


The Long Road

by meyari



Category: Smallville
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Character Death, Child Abuse, Drug Abuse, Happy Ending, M/M, Prostitution, Torture, serious injury, terminal illness, wanton sexual behavior
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-03-05
Updated: 2010-03-05
Packaged: 2017-10-07 18:00:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 75,739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/67724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meyari/pseuds/meyari
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's a long road to finding your destiny.  You don't always have to travel that road alone but you should be careful who you do choose to travel with.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Long Road

**Author's Note:**

> This is so completely AU. Lex is Kal-El. Clark's the meteor mutant. Readers should be prepared for a lot of Torture-Clark and Torture-Lex in this story. No joke. This one broke my angst-o-meter. I do get them to a happy ending eventually, I promise!

"Can't you get him to shut up? I'm trying to drive and all his crying isn't making it easy."

"He's in pain, of course he's crying."

Clark whimpered, his chest shuddering as he cried as quietly as he could. Mama kept rubbing his leg, trying to soothe him. Daddy sighed in the front seat, shaking his head in annoyance. Daddy's hand on the steering wheel looked twice as big as it should from the bandages wrapped around it. Clark's chest hurt. His stomach hurt. His throat hurt. Both of his arms hurt from the needles the mean nurses had put in him.

He didn't like hurting. He always hurt, always, always, _always_. If it wasn't the hospitals and doctors and nurses then he was falling down and hurting himself. Little bumps made big owies. The doctors didn't help, either. He'd gotten worse since they went to the doctors in the big hospital. He didn't know what the doctors meant when they talked in big words over his head. 'No hope', 'terminal' and 'try again' didn't make sense to Clark, other than they made Mama cry and Daddy hit things so bad that the mean nurses had to take him away and wrap up his hand. All Clark wanted was to feel good. No more doctors, no more nurses, no more bruises or needles or getting sick ever again.

"Shhh, baby, it's all right," Mama said, running her hand over Clark's hair extra gently. She carefully brushed away the hair that fell off of his head. A tear slid down her cheek. "Shhh. We're here. It's all right. You'll get to go to the park and feed the ducks. We'll take you to ride the rollercoaster. I'll make you waffles and we'll have pie for dessert every night. It'll be all right. We're here. Shhh."

Clark sniffled, scrubbing the tears away with the bandages on his left wrist. A whistle filled the air, quickly turning into a roar. Clark stilled, staring at Mama with wide eyes. Daddy started cursing. The car swerved as something really big went bang outside. The roar went on and on and on, drowning out Mama's screams and Daddy's curses. Clark screamed too, especially as the roar got so loud that he couldn't hear anything else. A huge thump made the car leap into the air. Clark's head hit something _hard_. The last thing Clark remembered was wishing as hard as he could that it wouldn't send him back to the doctors and nurses at the hospital.

+++++

Kal-El shuddered as the door on his spaceship opened, pouring smoke-darkened golden light on him. He stretched limbs that had been confined in his little spaceship for far too long, finally able to come out of his fetal curl. He crawled out of his ship, staring around him at his new homeworld. The sky was so bright, so very different from the images that Lara had shown him during his transit here. It was pale blue, not lavender. The sky was still humming with the sound of meteors striking. Plumes of smoke rose like dark columns from places that had been hit. Even with the destruction around him the world seemed very warm and welcoming. It was very green compared to what he knew his real home had been like. He didn't see a single crystal or patch of snow anywhere among the tall stalks of plants that surrounded his ship. He looked at the ground, wondering at its rich black soil.

"Ah!" Kal gasped, staring at the body of a young boy with red hair.

He'd been hit by a meteor and cut in half. His legs were a few yards away but his upper body was only a few feet from Kal. His hair was brighter than the blood that surrounded his body, brighter than the auburn hair that Kal had lost during his long stasis journey. The boy's eyes stared up at Kal, dull and covered with dust. Kal scrambled backwards, pressing against his spaceship as he shook. This was his fault. The boy died because of him.

"Lex!"

A man shoved through the towering stalks of the plant that surrounded Kal and the dead boy. He was tall with long wavy brown hair and a beard. He stared wildly at Kal and then turned to stare at the dead boy with dawning horror. His eyes shut and he swallowed hard. When he turned back to Kal there was something hard and calculating in his eyes.

Kal swallowed hard. The man looked at his spaceship, greed shining in his eyes. He seemed to recognize it though Kal had no idea how he could have known that they were coming. Father hadn't said anything about telling the people of this world that they would arrive. He'd emphasized the need for secrecy until Kal grew up. The man nodded after a few seconds as if he'd made a decision. He came over and knelt in front of Kal.

"Do you understand me?" the man asked, his voice soothing. The soothing attitude didn't extend to his eyes, which were hard and cold as he gazed at Kal.

"Yes," Kal said, swallowing hard. Lara's download had taught him his language and the dominant language of this world during the breaks between stasis that had allowed him to grow healthily.

"That's my son," the man said. "His name was Lex. Did you come alone?"

"Yes," Kal said, looking at the boy he'd killed.

It might not have been Kal's ship that killed the boy but if he hadn't come to this planet then the boy would still be alive. Kal tried not to let the guilt tear at him but he shook harder anyway. He was naked and cold and this boy had died because of Kal. He bit his lip against tears that wanted to spill out.

"Do you have anywhere to go? Is anyone looking out for you?" the man asked. He looked rather pleased at the thought that Kal might be alone and vulnerable.

"No," Kal said, wondering where Kara was.

He didn't like this man. He wasn't going to tell him that his cousin was here somewhere. He wasn't going to tell him that he was supposed to join a particular family, not just anyone who happened by. Kara would come find him. She'd promised that she'd find him and make sure that he stayed safe. She'd been close enough to adulthood that she could use full stasis for the journey instead of the more dangerous and damaging partial stasis that had been used for Kal. She wouldn't have lost her hair. She'd look like everyone else. She'd get him away from this man and his scary eyes and his dead son. For her to do it, he needed to make sure that the man didn't know about her. He thought that this man would do bad things to keep Kara from saving him.

"Then you can come with me," the man said, doing exactly as Kal had expected. "We'll claim that you're Lex, that the meteors took your hair from you. No one will ever know. You'll be perfectly safe with me."

Kal nodded slowly, looking at the dead boy. The man had thrown aside his son before his body cooled. The man's eyes followed Kal's gaze. His mouth went tight as he looked at the body of his son. He raised his chin as if fighting against his emotions. When he turned back to Kal the emotion was gone, other than a sort of rage buried deep in his eyes. Kal's stomach churned. Lex's father obviously had cared about him and Kal had taken him away. This wasn't going to go well.

"My fault," Kal breathed, hugging his knees to his chest in an effort to still the shivers and to appease this man that Kal now had to call father.

"Yes, it is your fault," the man agreed, nodding gravely. "So you have to do your best to live Lex's life for him. Alexander Luthor is dead. Long live the new Alexander Luthor."

He put a hand out and wrapped it around Lex's head, his fingers warm against the bare scalp that would mark Lex for the rest of his life. Lex shivered and allowed the man to pull him close. Kara would save him. Kara would come. She'd promised. He'd be safe once Kara came.

+++++

"Oh…" Martha moaned as she woke.

The world was upside down. They'd been driving home from town when the sky turned to fire and the road had exploded in front of them. Martha rubbed her head and then turned to Jonathan, gasping at the cut on his forehead. She struggled against her seat belt, freeing herself before freeing Jonathan who was slowly waking up again.

"What happened?" Jonathan asked, wincing as he rubbed the cut on his forehead.

"I don't know," Martha said, opening her door. "Something fell from the sky. Meteor maybe?"

They both froze as they heard a small child's giggle outside the cab of the truck. Martha turned and stared right into the most engaging small boy's grin that she'd ever seen. He looked to be about two or three years old, with green eyes and thick black hair. He had a battered bandage on one arm. His shorts were covered with scorch marks and his Mickey Mouse T-shirt was burned in places but she couldn't see any burns or cuts on him.

"Hello," Martha said, easing out of the cab and onto the ground next to the boy. "Who are you?"

"Cwark!" the boy said, grinning at her. "Funny! Upsi' down!"

"Hello Clark," Martha said, pulling him into her arms. She carefully checked him for injuries but he seemed to be fine. The bandage on his arm looked to be purely ornamental. "I'm Martha. This is Jonathan."

"Hiya!" Clark said, giggling at her attentions. He squirmed just enough to make it hard to hold onto him but not enough to escape.

"Where are your parents?" Jonathan asked, climbing out of the cab to stare around them.

"Dere," Clark said, pointing back towards the road. His beautiful grin faded to a solemn expression that looked far too mature for his years. "Won' move. You help?"

He looked at them hopefully, as if he trusted them to make everything better. Martha held Clark close as she followed Jonathan back to the road. She covered his head when they got to the car. It was scorched and twisted metal, burned out by an impact that must have thrown Clark free. Martha held back, not wanting to be certain that the twisted shapes in the car were people. Jonathan went closer, checking the car. He touched the torn metal of the roof and pulled his hand back sharply.

"It's still hot," Jonathan said, his grim expression telling Martha everything she needed to know.

"Mama and Daddy," Clark said tugging at Martha's shirt.

"I know, baby," Martha said, cradling him to her chest so that he wouldn't see her tears. "They're sleeping now. Don't wake them up."

"'Kay," Clark said, snuggling up to her.

Martha met Jonathan's eyes. Clark's parents were dead. He was alone and they had no idea where he belonged. She didn't recognize him, which had to mean that they'd been driving through town when the meteors fell. She knew all of the kids in town from her volunteer work at the library.

"Now what?" Martha asked.

"I guess we head to town," Jonathan said, making a face. "He'll need to be checked out by a doctor. Not sure how we're going to um, get him home. I don't see anything that would identify him."

"No!" Clark squawked, looking horrified. "No doctors! Don' wanna!"

He squirmed so hard that Martha nearly dropped him. She popped his bottom with one hand, startling him into sitting still. He didn't look guilty at all. He looked terrified of the thought of visiting a doctor. Martha kissed his forehead, wondering why he'd be so afraid of doctors when he was so little. In her limited experience children his age had few issues with doctors.

"Why don't you like doctors?" Jonathan asked, coming over to rub Clark's back.

"Hurts," Clark said, rubbing his bandaged arm. "Make go hos'pal an' mean nurses with needles poke you an' it hurts. Makes Mama and Daddy cry. Doctors bad. Don' wanna go!"

He started crying, clinging to Martha's shirt. She sighed as her heart weakened, rubbing his back. They'd have to figure it out eventually but for now she supposed there was no harm in taking him home. From the look of the pillars of smoke rising in every direction the hospital would be chaos anyway. Jonathan looked like he felt like a monster for making Clark cry.

"Let's head home," Jonathan said. "We'll go into town after we find out how bad the damage is."

+++++

Kal sat uncomfortably in the back of his new father's car. He'd said that his name was Lionel Luthor. The car was a 'limo', which apparently meant a car twice as big as Kara's spaceship. They were slowly driving along the road, the driver dodging craters made by meteors. Lionel was talking on a device called a 'cell phone' in a low tone of voice.

"No, he's fine," Lionel said, studying Kal from the corner of his eyes. "A bit shocked by everything that's happened and there have been some… changes. No, he'll be all right. No Lillian. I said no! We'll be home in a matter of hours. There's no need for you to come out here. I'm sure the news _is_ full of horror stories but we're fine. Yes. Yes, I'll tell him."

He closed the phone, sighing as if he was immensely put upon. Kal studied him, rubbing his hands over the blanket that Lionel had wrapped him in. Lionel had taken the clothes from his son's body, placing it in a crater. He'd had his driver help put Kal's spaceship in the limo and then they'd carefully covered Lex's body up with dirt. The driver had looked spooked as they'd done it, staring at Kal and Lionel as if they were monsters. Lionel had only looked satisfied once his son was buried. Kal wondered if that was how it was supposed to be. He didn't think so.

"Who was that?" Kal asked.

"Your mother, Lillian," Lionel said, tucking the phone away in his pocket. "She worries about you."

"About Lex," Kal corrected.

"No, she worries about _you,_" Lionel said, glaring at Kal. "You're Lex Luthor now so she worries about you."

"I'm not her son," Kal said, frowning at Lionel.

"You are now," Lionel growled, glaring at Kal. He grasped Kal's arm through the blanket, squeezing hard enough that it hurt. "What's your name?"

"Lex," Kal answered after a long moment's hesitation where he mentally recited his real name and lineage. "Lex Luthor."

"Good," Lionel said, letting Kal's arm go.

Kal turned away. He was Kal-El, son of Jor-El, who was son of the first Jor-El, who was son of Var-El. He recited the names of his ancestors going back more than twenty-seven generations. It was something that he'd learned while in the ship, a comforting reminder of home. He wouldn't allow himself to forget what he really was, not for this man or anyone else.

Kal saw a couple of people walking along the side of the road. The woman had bright red hair that was almost exactly the shade that Kal's hair had been before he'd lost it. The man had sandy colored hair. A little boy with black hair bounced in the woman's arms, waving wildly at the limo. Kal smiled and waved at the little boy, glad that not everyone had been destroyed by his arrival on Earth.

"They can't see you," Lionel said, snorting. "The windows are mirrored."

"Oh," Kal said sadly, settling back against the cushions. "How long will it take to get there?"

"About three hours under normal conditions," Lionel said. "I'd say that it might be dark before we get there as things stand. Why don't you tell me something about your ship, Lex? I'm very curious about it."

Kal turned and looked at him, considering what to say for a long moment. The key was gone, lost sometime during the landing, so his ship was inactive. He didn't want Lionel to find out how to make it work. He didn't want Lionel to learn the secrets his parents had put inside it for him.

"It's broken," Kal said shrugging as he hunkered down into his blanket. "Something hit me as we landed."

"Can you fix it?" Lionel asked, his eyes entirely too intent.

"No," Kal said completely honestly. "I don't know how it works. I was just a baby when I was sent here."

"Interesting," Lionel murmured, pursing his lips as if he had tasted something appetizing. "Very interesting."

Lionel let Kal sit in silence for long periods during their drive. When the military stopped them Kal had a moment's wild hope that they'd search the limo. Kal would be able to get away from Lionel if they did, but Lionel got out, making Kal stay in the car. He answered the military's questions calmly, acting as if he was a wonderful person who'd been caught in a terrible situation. In a few minutes they were released, driving on over roads that were much smoother. They'd gone past the edge of the meteor destruction.

Lionel kept asking Kal questions, snapping at Kal whenever he didn't know an answer to something. Most of the things he didn't know related to his new identity as Lex Luthor. The farther they went from Smallville, the more Kal worried that Kara wouldn't be able to find him. He reminded himself that she'd have powers. She was full grown and her ship had been designed to bathe her in yellow sunlight. His hadn't and he wouldn't fully develop his powers until he grew up more. He'd need a lot more sunshine before he'd be strong enough to escape Lionel. His ship couldn't help. It was broken and Lionel whisked it away the instant they arrived in Metropolis. He just had to bide his time until Kara came and saved him.

+++++

"No running around the cows, Clark," Jonathan called as Clark ran by. "Don't want you spooking them before I get them into the pasture."

Clark squealed with delight, apparently overjoyed to get to run and play. It was odd but Jonathan didn't worry about it. Martha frequently fretted about Clark's fear of doctors and hospitals. They'd managed to track down Clark's identity only to find that he had no living relatives. The paperwork for them to adopt Clark had been completed only two weeks ago. They'd had a party, setting the date as Clark's new birthday.

Despite the fact that he'd been there for six months they had yet to manage to get Clark into a doctor's office for a check up. There didn't seem to be a rush. He'd apparently been quite ill before being released from the hospital the day of the meteor shower but anyone could see that Clark was a healthy, normal little boy. He needed a doctor like he needed a hole in his head.

"Whee!" Clark squealed, running back to Jonathan. "Up!"

He ran behind one of the cows just as it started and raised its leg. Jonathan's heart lurched as the world slid into slow motion. He saw the cow's hind quarters shudder as a horsefly bit her. She raised her leg and kicked out to dislodge the fly just as Clark ran by her. Her hoof connected with Clark's head in a sickening crack that sent Clark's body flying.

"_Martha!_" Jonathan screamed, running over to Clark's still form.

He wasn't moving. He wasn't breathing. His head was misshapen, a dent deforming his skull at the temple. Martha came out of the kitchen and screamed, running over to Clark and Jonathan. Her hands hovered over Clark's motionless body as if she was afraid that by touching she'd make it real. He didn't want it to be real.

"He's not breathing," Martha cried, the words half a scream and half a moan. "He's not breathing!"

Jonathan grabbed her and held her, reaching out to gently close Clark's eyes behind her back. She sobbed, wails mixed with pleas for him to make Clark breathe again. He just held her, looking at their son's motionless body. Maybe they weren't destined to have children after all. They sat together for what seemed like forever. The cows made their own way into the pasture, grazing contentedly. After twenty minutes or so Jonathan's legs were numb but he couldn't muster the energy to stand. Martha lay collapsed against his chest, curled into a ball as she cried. Their little boy…

Clark's leg kicked.

Jonathan jumped so hard that Martha pulled back, turning to stare at Clark. Clark's fingers twitched, and then his little chest shuddered. He gasped, a horrible wet sound that had Martha cringing. He shook his head weakly, the bone reshaping as they watched. Jonathan reached a trembling hand out to rest on Clark's throat. His heart was beating.

"Owies," Clark whimpered, opening his eyes to blink at them. "Head hurts, Mommy."

"Clark!" Martha gasped, carefully scooping him up into her arms. She stared over Clark's head at Jonathan, questions and worries in her eyes.

"Take Clark inside, Martha," Jonathan said, staring at the pool of blood he'd left behind. He'd have to dispose of that so that no one would see it. "No more playing around the cows, Clark."

"'Kay," Clark said, rubbing the spot the cow had kicked gingerly. "Hurts, Mommy."

"I'm sorry, baby," Martha said, carrying Clark towards the house. "I'll get you some aspirin and we'll snuggle on the couch together. Would you like that?"

"Yeah," Clark said, sniffling. "No doctor?"

"No," Jonathan said, standing up. "No doctor Clark. No more doctors ever, except for your vaccinations."

Martha turned and stared at him. He looked at the puddle of blood and then at her. They couldn't let the rest of the world know about this. What with the way that Luthor was treating everyone who'd been touched by the meteors they'd lose Clark. She frowned, nodding slowly. She raised her chin as fierce determination filled her eyes. He smiled. Nothing was going to get their little boy away from them, apparently not even death. They'd just have to teach him to be careful.

+++++

"I brought you some breakfast, Mother," Lex said, carefully opening the door to his new mother's bedroom.

"Thank you," she said, smiling at him kindly, if a little distantly. "That's so nice of you."

He brought the tray of food over, carefully setting it over her lap. There was less room in her lap now that she was pregnant. She smiled and patted his hand, letting Lex sit on the bed next to her. She ate slowly, staring out the window at the garden beyond the glass. He sat with her, glad to be in her presence instead of Lionel's.

"Have you been studying?" Lillian asked, wiping her mouth absently.

"Yes, ma'am," Lex said, nodding gravely. "Father says that I'm making a lot of progress in remembering what I 'forgot'."

He let the word have enough emphasis to make it clear that he knew he wasn't really her son. She smiled a little brighter at him. Neither of them fought the battles to remember the original Lex anymore. Lionel wouldn't admit even in private that Lex wasn't truly his son. He lived the lie as totally as possible. No one could have told from the outside that Lex hadn't been meteor affected with amnesia and hair loss. Lillian and Lex only lived the lie when Lionel was around.

"Have you learned anything fun?" Lillian asked, rubbing her stomach as if the baby had kicked her.

"Many things," Lex said, smiling. "I asked my tutor about my little brother and we spent some time learning about how babies grow in the womb. And I learned a lot of stuff about math and chemistry. That was wonderful. I like those subjects."

"Are you looking forward to Julian?" Lillian asked, looking faintly surprised.

"Yes," Lex declared fiercely enough that she cocked her head at him. "He's… I get lonely. It will be nice to have another child around, even if he's just a baby."

She smiled so brightly that he didn't add that he was grateful that he wouldn't have to be Lionel's heir. It was better that the Luthor fortune went to Lionel's blood, not to Lex. To Kal, Lex reminded himself. He chanted his lineage mentally, just to remind himself of whom he was. It had been surprisingly easy to become 'Lex Luthor'. He didn't want to but it was what had to happen for Lex to survive.

Kara still hadn't come.

She had to have gotten lost or trapped somewhere Lex thought as he carried the tray back down to the kitchen. She'd said so many times before they'd left Krypton that she'd find him and protect him. She never would have let him be taken away like this, not for over two years. Something had to have happened to her.

"No, I will not," Lionel declared from one of the rooms as Lex walked by. "I don't care what they threaten. The child is a menace to society with those powers. It's for the child's good and for the rest of society's good to lock her up until we find a cure. Yes, of course I'm working on a cure. I've dedicated a considerable portion of my fortune to finding a cure for these poor unfortunates. Yes, of course. Certainly. Thank you."

Lionel looked up and saw Lex studying him. He hung up the phone, smiling at Lex. There was a faintly nasty edge to the smile, as if he had mentally censored out a half dozen horrid things to say. Lex met the gaze squarely, not willing to risk a beating for not 'being a proper Luthor'.

"Yet another family destroyed by the meteor shower, Lex," Lionel said, sighing with mock sadness. "Its such a tragedy that a natural disaster affected so many people, isn't it?"

"Yes sir," Lex said, his stomach churning.

"Off you go." Lionel gestured grandly, the smile shifting into a true smirk. Lesson learned, time to move on.

Lex moved on. The teacup shook on the tray. He couldn't still it, no matter how carefully he walked. More lives that he was responsible for. Sometimes he doubted that he'd ever find a way to make it up to the world.

+++++

"Mommy, what does 'in-cin-er-ate' mean?" Clark asked, frowning at the label on the heater.

He'd run out of books to read and Mommy didn't let him watch TV very much. Pete wasn't there to play with. He was being good and staying away from the farm animals, just like Mommy and Daddy wanted. He was bored and lonely so he'd started wandering around the house finding things to read. The basement had lots of new things to read, like the furnace's warning stickers.

"It means 'burn' sweetie," Mommy called from the stairs. "Why?"

"I'm reading!" Clark said. He reached out and put his hand on the heater. It was hot. Really hot. He heard something sizzle and pulled his hand away just as the hot turned into ow. "Owie!"

"Clark?" Mommy asked, her voice going sharp with worry. She came down the stairs to stare at him. "Oh baby, don't touch that!"

"It's hot, Mommy," Clark said, holding his hand and blowing on it. His skin was all red and blistered. The tips of his fingers looked scorched. So did the heel of his hand.

She ran over and pulled him away from the furnace, shuddering at the sight of his hand. He let her carry him upstairs in her arms. The cool water she ran over his hand felt good so he stood on his helping stool with his hand under the faucet for a long while.

"Cold," Clark said after a couple of minutes. He pulled his hand out and wiggled his fingers. The water had washed all the blisters and scorch marks away. "All better Mommy. Can I have something to read now?"

"Did you already finish all your library books?" Mommy asked, checking his hand and then patting it dry with a towel.

"Uh-huh," Clark said nodding firmly. "They were easy. Your books look like more fun. They've got lots of words in them, not just a few."

"I'll find you something else to read but you have to promise not to touch the furnace or anything hot, okay?" Mommy said. "No dangerous things. Promise?" She offered her little finger for a pinky swear.

"I promise," Clark declared, beaming at her and hooking his pinky with hers. "No dangerous things, and no playing around the cows, and no doctors ever."

"Good boy," Mommy said, hugging Clark. "Into the living room with you. I'll go find some books for you."

"Yay!" Clark squealed, running into the living room to wait for her.

She came back with several books, ranging from easy ones that Daddy read at bedtime to nice thick ones that they kept on the top shelf in the master bedroom out of Clark's reach. They sat on the couch and Mommy let him read to her. He finished _The Tiny Spider_ easily. _Winnie the Pooh_ went nearly as fast. _Little Women_ was more fun to read, with a lot more big words in it that she had to explain for him.

"Reading time?" Daddy asked when he came in for lunch.

"Yes," Mommy said, her voice a little strange. "Clark was just reading _Little Women_ to me."

"He was _what?_" Daddy squawked, staring at Clark with shock all over his face. "Martha, Clark's only four and a half years old. I read that in junior high school."

"I know," Martha said, laughing. It was a really shaky laugh that made Clark frown at them. "I think our little boy's a bit of a genius, Jon. Maybe I can home school him for a while. It'd be a shame to have him slowed down by the other kids when he goes to school."

Daddy nodded slowly, rubbing the back of his neck. Clark looked at them, keeping his spot in the book with his hand. He wanted to find out what Jamie told Jo in the story. He wanted to see how the story ended. It was a lot better than the little books that Mommy got him from the library.

"That'll work," Daddy said, smiling weakly. "How about some lunch?"

"Lunch!" Clark said, carefully marking his spot. "Can I have peanut butter and jelly with pie for dessert?"

"Why not?" Mommy said, petting Clark's hair. "But only a little piece of pie. I don't want you to spoil your appetite for dinner."

"Yay!"

Clark set the book down and ran for the fridge to get the peanut butter, jelly and bread out. Mommy and Daddy whispered to each other as he worked, exchanging strange looks. Clark tried not to worry about it. He had new, better books to read. Everything was fine. It didn't matter that he didn't get to go out to school or make friends. He had Pete and Mommy and Daddy. That was enough. He'd read and learn things at home and everything would be all right. It was okay. He got pie for dessert. It was fine. He'd learn to deal with being lonely eventually.

+++++

"It was an accident," Lex said, his whole body shaking as he looked up at Lionel.

"Lex…" Lionel was shaking too, his hands in fists by his side.

Julian's little body was in his cradle, still and cold. Lillian had disappeared to her bedroom, drifting in that strange state she'd fallen into after Julian's death. Her words about 'saving' Julian made entirely too much sense to Lex. After everything that had happened in this house he wished that she could 'save' him too but Lex wasn't _really_ her son. He wasn't really Lex. He'd cost Lionel both of his sons now.

He was Kal-El and he'd allowed a baby to be murdered by its mother. His speed had failed him when he'd heard Julian's crying stop. He'd had to run up the stairs like a normal person. All the strength that his body was developing was no use once he got there. Julian was already blue. It was too late.

Lionel's fist cracked into Lex's cheek, rocking him back on his heels. A year ago he would have fallen but his body had matured enough that it didn't hurt physically. The emotional wounds seemed to go deeper than any physical wound could. Lex let Lionel beat on him until blood ran from Lionel's fists onto Lex's clothes.

"My son!" Lionel growled, his voice shaking with rage and loss. "My son!"

"It was an accident," Lex whispered, not raising his hands to defend himself. "It was an accident."

"No more _accidents,_" Lionel snarled, grabbing Lex by the arm and hauling him out of the nursery.

They went down the stairs to Lionel's office. He slammed the door and shoved Lex into a chair. Lex sat there, fighting against tears. Lillian didn't really love him but that didn't matter. Lionel would destroy her if he knew what had actually happened. It was Lex's fault. If he hadn't killed the real Lex then Lionel wouldn't have forced Lillian to have another baby that her body and mind couldn't handle. He may not have held the pillow over Julian's face but he was still responsible for his death.

"This will take care of everything," Lionel said, still shaking with rage as he came back to Lex's side carrying a watch. "Put that on. Now!"

Lex took the watch. He gasped and dropped it as his body reacted to it. It felt like his blood had started to boil. His skin had almost literally crawled once he'd touched it. Lionel bent down and picked the watch up, holding it out to Lex imperiously.

"Put it on, Alexander," Lionel said. "The meteor rock inside will ensure that your freakish powers don't kill anyone else. Consider it a penance for all the lives that you've destroyed since your arrival."

"It hurts," Lex whispered, staring at the watch.

"Taking responsibility for your actions always hurts," Lionel said, narrowing his eyes at Lex dangerously. "Do it."

Lex shuddered. He thought of the dozens of children that Lionel had arranged to take away from their families. He thought of the hundreds of people who'd died because of him. He thought of Kara, still missing years later. He took the watch, gasping at the way it made him feel. It was so hard to close secure it around his wrist. Lex moaned, clutching his arm to his chest as the watch burned him without searing his flesh.

"Go to your room," Lionel said, his voice grimly satisfied. "I will be arranging for you to go to Excelsior Academy in the next couple of days. I expect you to perform well there, Lex."

"Yes sir," Lex gasped, straightening up with difficulty.

He staggered out of the office and slowly made his way to his bedroom. It hurt. The watch hurt. Lionel hurt. Lillian hurt. Everything hurt. Lex turned his face into the pillow and cried. Kara wasn't coming. She was never coming for him. He was alone and this was all the life he'd ever have. Lex cradled the watch to his chest, silently reciting the names of his fallen ancestors. Someday he'd find a way to live up to them. Someday he'd make it up to the world. Someday.

+++++

"I _hate_ him," Duncan growled, clutching his torn comic book to his chest. "He's such a bully."

"Agreed," Lex sighed, rubbing the watch on his wrist as he thought of the other bully in his life. "Look, I have some cash. I could give it to you, help you get a replacement for the comic."

"No," Duncan said. He smiled sadly at Lex with gratitude in his eyes. "I don't want your money, Lex. I'd rather just be a friend."

"Thanks," Lex said as Duncan's kind words lightened his heart a little. "That means more than you realize, Duncan."

Duncan patted Lex's shoulder before heading off to his room. Lex waited to make sure that Duncan made it to his room all right and then entered his room. He had a single. Lionel had made sure of that. He hadn't wanted to damage the Luthor family's reputation by having Lex share a room or worse yet reveal his 'differences' to a roommate. Lex took off his cap and tossed it on the bed. He went to the windows at the far end of the room to pull the curtains open. Sunlight poured into the room. Lex smiled. He shut his eyes and soaked the sunshine up.

The watch didn't hurt as much anymore. Lex wasn't sure if he was getting used to it or if he was getting better at ignoring the effect of the kryptonite. Lex glared at the watch. He hated it. He hated what it represented. He hated Lionel's power over him. Lex pulled off his tie and opened his shirt so that more of his skin was exposed to the sun's rays. After a moment's hesitation at the thought of Lionel finding out, he took the watch off and tossed it onto his bed too.

"Oh yes," Lex groaned, his powers sweeping back in as the pain faded.

He felt like he could breathe twice as deeply. His body felt stronger. His hearing was far more acute. The sun felt better, too. It felt like it was soaking deeply into his body. It felt better than anything that he'd ever experienced. Lex sat at his desk, rotating his chair so that the sunshine poured down on him.

He could end Oliver's bullying at any time. All he had to do was leave the watch in his room. Oliver would hit Lex and he'd break his hand. Lex could lightly tap him and send Oliver and his friends flying. His strength had grown a lot in the last year. Lex wasn't sure how much more it would grow but he could feel his strength increasing as he sunbathed. It really would be simple to get rid of Oliver.

"Why don't I?" Lex asked quietly. He opened his eyes to stare out at the still strange blue sky. "Why don't I save Duncan and teach Oliver a lesson in humility?"

Lex sighed as he rubbed a hand over his naked scalp. He knew the answer to that question. He knew why he wore the watch that tortured him. He knew why he didn't work harder at being friends with everyone. He'd have to act just like Oliver and his cronies if he wanted to fit in at this school. He'd have to behave like Lionel. He'd be worse than any of them if he used his powers for such petty things. As much as he wanted to belong, he wouldn't allow himself to become that sort of monster. His father and mother, his _real_ parents, would have been horrified if he used the powers he'd been granted in that fashion.

"No," Lex sighed. "I'll find another way, something that doesn't violate every principle I have."

Lex's cell phone rang. He winced, looking at it. Lionel. It had to be Lionel. Lillian had gotten bad enough since Julian's death that she wasn't able to use the phone anymore. Or wasn't allowed. Lex wasn't sure which it was as he wasn't in the house anymore. Lionel was the only other person who had the number. Lex sighed and opened the phone.

"Alexander," Lionel said, his voice carrying that tone that was all quiet threat. "I was just wondering how you were doing at school."

"I'm fine, Father," Lex said, looking out the window. The sun would be setting behind the opposite building in about an hour. He'd really hoped to get to soak up more sunshine before he was interrupted.

"That's good," Lionel said. "Are you wearing the watch I gave you? You know how important it is for you to wear it. We don't want any more _accidents,_ do we?"

"No sir," Lex said, getting up. He went and got the watch, shuddering silently at the pain of the kryptonite shard hidden inside of it.

"Good," Lionel said, satisfaction filling his voice. "Always remember that I'm watching over you, Lex. You're very important to me. You're my heir. You have to make sure that you don't do something that will reflect badly on the Luthor name. You're my son. I expect you to follow in my footsteps someday."

"Yes sir." Lex swallowed hard.

He wondered where the camera in his room was hidden. There had to be one somewhere. Lionel wouldn't have known that he'd taken the watch off otherwise. He wouldn't make comments about following in his footsteps if he hadn't heard Lex comment about having principles. He cradled the phone between his shoulder and ear as he strapped the watch back on. The brief break made it hurt twice as much once it was around his wrist. Lex shuddered, holding his breath so that he wouldn't moan for Lionel to gloat over.

"I'll talk to you later, Lex," Lionel said, smugness filling his voice.

"Yes sir," Lex said, just barely managing to keep the words from turning into a moan. "Goodbye sir."

"Goodbye Lex."

Lex hung up, settling back down on his desk chair in the sunshine. The light didn't feel as good with the watch strapped around his wrist. Lex shivered, rubbing his wrist as he acclimated to the pain. He frowned. If Lionel truly did have cameras monitoring him, which it quite obviously seemed to, then he probably also had people watching him at school. He probably had several of the teachers and administrators in his pay. They wouldn't help Lex deal with Oliver or the other bullying or they would have acted already. Lex frowned. It was quite possible that they'd been paid to ensure that Lex was bullied. It was the sort of thing that Lionel would do. He wouldn't put it past Lionel to have decided that he needed greater punishment for the 'accident' with Julian or that he needed to be toughened up so that he would be a proper heir.

Lex sighed, opening his shirt all the way so that he could get more sunshine. He'd just have to find a way to deal with it all without his powers. Maybe he could use Lionel's rules against them, though he hated the thought of being like Lionel in any way. He'd have to see if he could blackmail Oliver somehow. It would keep them off of his and Duncan's back for a lot longer than merely telling on them. Not that telling on them had worked so far. And it was highly likely that Lionel would approve of blackmail. It was one of his favorite techniques to use against rivals.

"I suppose it might work," Lex murmured once the sun disappeared behind the other building. "I hope it doesn't make things worse in the long run though."

+++++

"Oh man! Oh man!" Pete gasped. He clutched Clark's shoulder, his eyes wide with fright. "Are you all right? Did that hurt?"

"Huh?" Clark asked, staring at Pete.

The hammer had slipped and hit Clark's thumb. It didn't really hurt. Well, it had the instant it hit his thumb but after that it wasn't sore at all. Clark looked at Pete, back at his thumb and only then realizing that he'd just shown off the way he'd promised Mommy and Daddy he wouldn't.

"Didn't hit me," Clark said, shrugging in a way that he hoped was believable.

"It didn't?" Pete asked. His jaw dropped open. "I thought it did."

"Nope," Clark said. "Sorry. I squawked because I thought it would. Hold the board again?"

"Oh, sure," Pete said, taking his end of the board they were adding to their tree fort. "Sorry. I really thought that you hit your thumb."

"Nope, I got lucky," Clark said, smiling brightly.

They'd been building their tree fort together all summer. It was fun but they could only do it piecemeal, when they earned another piece of wood and some more nails. Their fort looked kind of weird but it was all theirs. Clark loved it. Lana thought it was a mess and refused to get into it, not that girls were allowed in their fort. Pete loved it too, so he had come over to help build it and to play with Clark every chance he could this summer.

"My turn!" Pete said, holding out his hand for the hammer. "I'll nail in this side."

"Sure," Clark said, passing the hammer over to Pete.

He braced the board while Pete took a nail. Pete's tongue stuck out as he tapped the head of the nail, setting it. He grinned once it was set and swung the hammer hard. The hammer swept down and hit Pete on his thumb, not quite as hard as Clark had been struck.

"Aaah!" Pete shouted, dropping the nail, the hammer and jumping backwards so far he bounced against the rail that they'd put up as soon as they had a floor. He started crying, clutching his hand to his chest.

"Are you okay?" Clark asked, horrified.

"No!" Pete cried, shaking his head hard. "Ow, ow, ow!"

"Lemme see," Clark said, gently prying Pete's hand away from his chest. His thumb was red and swollen. Clark stared, expecting it to go down. It didn't. "Oh wow. You really whacked yourself. Come on. Mommy will make it better."

Pete let Clark help him down the little ladder Daddy had hammered into the side of their tree. Mommy gasped when she saw Pete's finger. Pete's Mama was there for coffee, pie and discussion of the news in the paper about another kid being taken away. The two of them petted Pete. They gave him aspirin and wrapped his thumb so that it wouldn't get hurt again. Clark hugged Pete before they left. He felt really bad that Pete had gotten hurt working on their fort, but Pete didn't seem to blame Clark for it. He blamed the hammer.

Pete getting hurt while playing with Clark wasn't the only thing that bothered him. Mommy and Daddy had let him start reading the newspaper every day, so Clark knew about all of the kids who got taken away. He knew that the 'different' kids, the ones affected by the meteors, were considered to be a threat to everyone around them. They had powers and went crazy. They attacked people. They destroyed stuff. They stole things, too. Clark waited until Pete and his Mama drove away to look up at Mommy. He'd been worried about it for a long time, ever since he realized that Mommy and Daddy didn't heal the way he did.

"Why didn't his thumb get better, Mommy?" Clark asked after working up his courage. He tugged at her pants leg to make sure she listened. "He didn't hit it that hard. Why didn't it get better?"

"Oh baby," Mommy said sadly. She knelt down so that she could meet his eyes. "Most people can't heal the way you do. That's why we've told you to be careful. The way you heal is very special. People would be frightened if the realized how quickly you get better."

"P-Pete wouldn't want to be my friend anymore if he knew?" Clark asked, his stomach doing weird quivery things inside of him. He'd been right. He was one of the freaks.

"I think he'd still be your friend, Clark," Mommy said in the slow careful way that Clark had learned meant she was choosing her words very carefully, "but I don't know if you'd be best friends anymore. He'd be jealous of the way you don't get hurt. He's in a lot of pain right now. I'm sorry, baby. I don't want to lie to you. It's something that you need to understand. It's going to be part of your life forever. LuthorCorp has taken a lot of children who are different away. They'd think that the way you heal is bad so you have to hide it or you might not get to stay with us."

Clark's bottom lip wobbled at the news that Pete might not want to be his best friend if he found out about how Clark healed. He didn't have any other friends. He didn't want to lose Pete. Lana was nice but she was a girl. He couldn't be best friends with a girl, especially one like Lana who only wanted to play with dolls. He already knew that LuthorCorp was bad. Pete had told him how Mr. Luthor had stolen his Papa's factory, turning it into something else. He read about LuthorCoprp in the newspaper every day, ever since he got permission to. He'd seen the bad things they did, even if the newspapers tried to make it sound like good things. Clark swallowed hard against his fears, squaring his shoulders.

"I'm not a baby, Mommy," Clark declared. "I'm six years old. That's not a baby anymore. I'll be good and Pete won't be jealous of me. And I'll never let LuthorCorp find out about me, I promise."

"All right, sweetie," Mommy said, laughing and hugging him. "I trust you."

Clark leaned into the hug, clinging to her. He wanted to be brave but it was hard. His mind was already ticking through all the ways he could reveal himself. There were so many ways he could be hurt and then people would realize that he was different. He'd have to be really, really, _really_ careful if he didn't want Mr. Luthor to find out about him.__

"Mommy," Clark said, pulling back to stare into her eyes. "Tell me how long it takes to heal from things. I need to know how long it takes for a normal person so I can pretend right. Like paper cuts and bruises and broken bones and _everything_."

Mommy hesitated for a long moment, conflict rampaging in her eyes. Eventually she nodded, picking Clark up and carrying him over to the couch to snuggle with her. Clark curled up against her side.

"All right," Mommy said a little sadly. "Hopefully you won't have to pretend."

"No, I need to know for other people's boo-boos too," Clark said, shaking his head hard. "Like Pete. I thought he'd heal right away. I didn't know that he'd hurt so much. So to understand everyone else, I need to know how long it takes. It's not just for pretending. It's so I'm not mean to other people and expect things they can't do."

"Good point," Mommy said, smiling and tapping his nose.

She started to explain with paper cuts and little boo-boos. Clark listened hard. He never, ever wanted to lose his friends. He never wanted to be taken away from his family. He'd learn and pretend and it would be all right.

+++++

Lex followed Lionel back into the house. Lillian's funeral had been an exercise in torture for him. Lionel's grief had been very carefully portrayed. Every quiver of his lips was a work of art. His hand had shaken the perfect amount when he'd place a white rose on her coffin. He'd swayed precisely enough for it to be visible as Lillian's coffin was lowered into the grave. The reporters were just close enough to them that Lionel didn't allow his boredom at the ceremony to show. Instead he'd done a stunning job portraying a man stricken with grief at the loss of his beloved wife.

Lex had spent the entire time thinking of the real Lex Luthor and his unmarked crater grave in Smallville.

"I do wish you had worn a hat today, Lex," Lionel said once they were inside and safe from any reporters. "That head of yours was quite distracting."

"Sorry," Lex said, letting the sullenness and resentment show in his voice. "I suppose I should apologize for detracting from your performance."

Lionel turned and looked down at Lex, his eyebrow snaking up as he smirked. Lionel led Lex into his office, waving for Lex to shut the door. Lex was expecting the slap that followed. He didn't give with the blow as he normally did. Lionel clutched his hand. His eyes flew to the watch securely strapped around Lex's wrist.

"Interesting," Lionel drawled. "I wasn't aware that you'd removed the meteorite shard."

"I haven't," Lex said, taking the watch off and passing it to Lionel to check.

Lionel went to his desk and opened the back of the watch. He rocked back in his chair, staring down at the shard of kryptonite. Lex stared at him, enjoying the brief few moment of full power. His powers had grown enough that the shard was insufficient to contain him, or perhaps he had built up immunity to it. It still hurt. It just didn't stop him anymore.

"Fascinating," Lionel murmured, resealing the watch and passing it back to Lex.

"I'm so pleased that you approve," Lex said, refusing to shudder as he put the watch on. It only took a few seconds for the pain to be manageable again. "And here I was expecting that you'd strap a collar made of the stuff around my neck."

"It's a thought," Lionel said as if he was considering it. "I do… wonder… how it would affect you if you were exposed to more of it."

Lex couldn't control the way the blood drained from his face. Lionel smiled his nastiest smile, leaning on his elbows to form a steeple from his fingers in front of his face. Lex stomped on the urge to run, the desire to beat Lionel to death for the betterment of humanity. He couldn't imagine that anyone would mourn for this man.

"But no," Lionel said, his smirk just peeking out from behind his fingers, "I think there are better things that can be done with you. Your powers are obviously growing. I think during your week's leave from school you'll be working with my scientists. There's so much that we don't know about you, Lex. I think it's time to learn more. Perhaps we can finally find a way to cure the poor unfortunates who were altered by your arrival here."

"Are you sure you want anyone to know about me?" Lex asked. He was intensely grateful that he'd managed to keep his voice from quivering. "It might cause… problems."

"Don't worry, the researchers in question are well under my control," Lionel said absently. He waved a hand at Lex. "Go to your room, Lex. They'll come for you in a little while. I would suggest changing into more… casual clothing."

Lex left. His legs shook as he climbed the stairs to his rarely used room. He took off the suit he'd worn to the funeral and changed into simple jeans and a periwinkle blue long-sleeved T-shirt. Lex kept the watch on. The guard who showed up five minutes later looked everywhere but Lex's eyes. He was flown to the LuthorCorp facility outside of Smallville and taken down into a subterranean level that had no signs on the door. The entrance looked like a storage closet. They took his clothes and gave him scrubs. Lex insisted that Lionel would be upset if they took the watch away. He barely won that battle by reminding them that he hadn't take the watch off since his brother Julian's death, at Lionel's personal insistence.

They barely let him eat. They didn't let him sleep more than an hour at a time. They tested him with electricity, water, wind, and impacts, everything that they could think of. The kryptonite in his watch allowed them to take his blood after several attempts, which led to them coming back for more tests that seemed far more like torture than anything scientific.

They discovered his growing invulnerability. They discovered his ability to heal rapidly. They quickly discovered his need for sunshine and exploited that to make him more complaint to their testing. They knew of his strength and speed already, though they were determined to see if he had grown any stronger or faster. He managed to hide the hearing that let him hear the other people being 'tested' like he was. He hid the sudden development of X-ray vision when he heard one of the others being shot. He hadn't realized that the back of a skull would blow out that way when a bullet pierced it.

"Interesting," Lionel said once Lex stumbled into his office six days later. He was studying a series of reports. "Very interesting. I had no idea that your abilities had grown so much, Lex. I'll have to pay closer attention to you now that Lillian is gone."

"Yes sir," Lex panted, barely able to stay standing.

He was exhausted but not so exhausted that he would collapse where Lionel could see. Lex let the guards drag him back to his room. He changed clothes willingly enough, grateful for the brief respite from the watch during his shower. By the time he strapped it back on Lex had already formulated a plan.

He needed money, untraceable money. He needed a larger chunk of kryptonite, a series of larger chunks. He needed to keep exposing himself to them, increasing his immunity while hiding his maturing powers. It would be painful and dangerous but he couldn't allow Lionel to know the full extent of his powers. He'd overheard enough while in Smallville to know that Lionel wasn't going to be content with attempting to control Lex and using his powers. He wanted the world and he was clearly willing to use whatever means necessary to build an army of super-soldiers loyal only to him. He already knew Lex wouldn't obey him without coercion.

"Sir?" Lex asked one of the nice (probably not Lionel-owned) instructors the next day. He'd slept for twelve solid hours for the first time in years and felt far better. "Would it be possible for me to do some extra work in the lab after class? It would help keep me from thinking about my mother."

"Of course, Lex," the instructor said, compassionately rubbing Lex's back. "Just make sure that you clean up after yourself and that will be fine."

Lex's first batch of drugs sold to a couple of the seniors in minutes. His second netted him several thousand dollars more than he expected since a bidding war began between the students who wanted the drugs. He paid off several people to buy him meteor fragments, two of which actually came through with them. Lex carefully reworked his watch to include the other fragments while hidden in some shrubs after selling a third batch of drugs. It took him an hour to get up once he put the watch on. A month later he added another sliver. His heat vision had developed during a blowjob for one of the instructors who'd caught him brewing up drugs.

Lex felt like he was losing himself in this battle against Lionel but he already knew that the cost of being caught would be too high for the world to bear.

+++++

"Wow," Clark breathed, extending his arms as he swayed at the top of the old oak tree on the back of the pasture.

He laughed, enjoying the wind through his hair and the illusion of freedom from the cares of the world. Pete had started school again, this time going to second grade without Clark. Lana was at school too. Daddy was out working with the cows and Mommy had shooed him out of the house after he'd read the paper, done his physics homework and balanced the checkbook for her. He had until lunch to do whatever he wanted so he'd gone climbing trees. This was the highest he'd ever been. It felt really neat to poke his head through the top leaves and see how high he was over the ground. All the other trees were way shorter than the old oak tree.

"Whoosh!" Clark giggled, waving his arms. "I'm flying, just like Warrior Angel!"

He bounced on the branch, looking all around him. A gust of wind rustled the leaves. A second, much harder wind gust shoved Clark. He flailed, grabbing for branches but only grasping leaves that tore under his hands. He fell, his scream cut short when he hit his chest on one big branch. It knocked him into another branch that knocked him into another that made something crunch in his ribs. Clark tried to gasp for hair but he could feel liquid filling his lungs and it hurt really badly. He fell limply the rest of the way to the ground, landing on a rock that made something crunch in his hip.

Clark whimpered. He rolled off of the rock and gasped at how much moving his hip hurt. He counted the injuries to distract himself while they healed. Broken ribs. Broken shoulder. Broken hip. Punctured lung. Internal bleeding that made his tummy feel like it was filling up. Clark coughed and blood came up. He spit it out, waiting.

His ribs snapped back into place. His shoulder reverse-crunched, going back to where it should be. As soon as his rips and shoulder fixed themselves it got easier to breathe. Clark coughed up a little more blood but his lungs were clearing up rapidly as his body reabsorbed the blood. The ache in his stomach faded quick to. It took about twenty minutes for his hip to get to the point he could sit up after it reverse-crunched.

"So… no climbing trees." Clark scrubbed the blood off of his chin with the back of his hand. He made sure his shirt didn't have any blood before he stood and headed to the little river that wandered through the back pasture. It hurt to walk but not that bad. He only limpled a little bit. He thought that his hip was one of the injuries that might take him a few days to get all the way better from as he rinsed his mouth out and spit the bloody water back into the river.

Clark took his time walking back to the house. The longer he took the more he'd heal. The more he'd healed the less his accident would show. Clark wanted to go to school next year with Pete and Lana. He needed to prove to his parents that he could pretend to be normal. The cows were grazing quietly close to the barn when he got back. Clark looked at them, wondering if he'd had an accident when he was really little that had led to his being forbidden to be around them until he was older.

"There you are," Mommy said as Clark entered the kitchen. "I was just making lunch. Did you have fun?"

"Yeah," Clark said, smiling at the sandwiches that she was making; big, thick ham and cheese for Daddy, peanut butter and jelly for Clark, and a little ham sandwich for Mommy.

"What did you do?" Mommy asked.

"Oh, wandered around," Clark said. He leaned on the counter. "I thought about climbing a tree."

"That's not something I want you doing alone, sweetie," Mommy said. She looked at him sternly. "It would be too easy for you to fall."

"I know," Clark said, sighing. "It's just that with school going again I don't have anyone to play with. It gets lonely."

She reached across the counter to ruffle Clark's hair. He smiled and leaned his head into her hand. Daddy came in after a little bit, giving Clark a bear hug that made him squeak from the lingering pain in his ribs. He sat mostly still during lunch, despite the way sitting on the hard chair made his hip hurt. Clark avoided a bath that night by pretending to be really tired. He knew he still had some bruises on his ribs and hip that he didn't want Mommy and Daddy to see. They'd be gone in the morning. It would be okay for them to see then. Clark sighed once they'd told him his story and shut the lights off.

"I wish I could go to school," Clark whispered, looking out the window at the dusk creeping in outside. "I don't like being alone all the time."

+++++

"It's a little task, Lex," Lionel said. His eyes were like lasers as he studied Lex. "I'm surprised that you're protesting. It would only take you a few seconds to enter the building, locate the file and return with it."

"Granted," Lex drawled, lounging quite deliberately on Lionel's office couch. "I'm just rather surprised that you're so willing to have me remove the watch. You know that I don't have the speed to do it while wearing it."

"Nonsense," Lionel said. He leaned back in his chair to put his feet on his desk while pretending to study the toes of his shoes. He watched Lex carefully from the corner of his eyes. "You don't need to remove the watch, Lex. You've gotten so much stronger."

"Stronger yes." Lex smirked at Lionel. He smirked so that he wouldn't wince at that reminder of having been caught on camera lifting a car and moving it aside. "Not faster. I can certainly do it with the watch on but I'll be picked up on camera if I do. The image would be a bit blurry but if that's acceptable to you, I suppose it's acceptable to me. It is a file stolen from us, after all. It's only right that we get it back."

Lionel bristled ever so slightly at Lex's casual attitude about being caught on film. It was one thing when Lionel recorded Lex doing something 'unusual'. It was an entirely different thing when there was a chance of someone else doing it. Lex was fairly certain that the 'stolen file' was another of Lionel's tricks to test Lex's resistance to kryptonite. He probably also wanted to see if Lex had developed any new abilities.

Lionel had made a practice of calling Lex home every two or three months since Lillian died. He'd send Lex off for another grueling set of tests and then call him into his office with a 'task' he needed Lex to do. Lex had gotten very good at faking his performance on the testing, to the point that he removed the extra shards of kryptonite from his watch before returning home. The tasks were a harder problem for him.

Every single one so far was illegal in some way. That Lionel was systematically trying to get a fourteen-year-old boy to break the law, and his principles, on a regular basis made Lex's skin crawl. Lex rarely got out of doing them, but he did his best not to submit to his father's demands willingly. He would not become what Lionel wanted him to be. He would _not._

"I'm saddened that you have so little faith in your abilities, Lex," Lionel said in that mock-mournful tone of voice he'd used at Lillian's funeral.

"I have great faith in my abilities," Lex countered. "I simply have more faith in the security cameras to operate at the speed of light. I'll never be able to move faster than light."

Lionel chuckled, nodding at Lex to concede the point. They sparred verbally until dinner. Lionel eventually approved Lex removing the watch. He took it personally, turning the watch over and over in his hands. Lex sighed with relief at being a full strength. It felt so much better. He felt like he could breathe properly for the first time in ages.

"Off you go," Lionel said, turning to his desk. "I expect you back shortly, Lex."

"Of course," Lex said. "I thought I'd change into something a bit less distinctive before I go."

He sped to his room, slipping into a pair of black jeans, a black T-shirt, black gloves and pulled a ski mask out of his closet. He sped back to Lionel's office, being careful to keep his speed about twenty percent better than his speed with the watch. He could have gone much faster but that would have revealed entirely too much. He still returned to Lionel's office before he'd taken a step.

"Amusing," Lionel said of Lex's new outfit. "But effective. Go. Replace the file with this version that's less… revealing."

"Yes sir," Lex said.

He took the manila folder from Lionel without bothering to read it. He'd glance at it once he was there. He pulled the ski mask over his face before speeding out of the mansion. The building that Lionel had specified turned out to be a rival corporation that had recently won a military contract, taking it away from LuthorCorp. Lex sighed mentally as he moved through the apparently frozen people in the building. This was yet another of Lionel's espionage attempts.

The target file was on a desk in the military division, in plain sight. Lex glanced at his file, nodded absently that it was a flawed version of the design for an engine part, and switched the files. He mentally apologized to the man reaching for the file before speeding away. He made sure to glance at the real file before he left, simply so he would know what Lionel was up to.

Lex was strongly tempted to turn around and allow them to capture him when he realized that the flawed design would result in the engine they were building exploding. Lex ran for home instead, determined to fight it out with Lionel. He had no intention of allowing Lionel to use him to kill. He was nearly back to the mansion when a newspaper headline caught his attention: _"Child's body found in Smallville Field"_.

The article was small, with a small picture of the boy's reconstructed face. Lex shuddered. The real Lex had been found at last. Lex bought the newspaper from a newstand by setting the proper coins by the attendant's hand, scanned the paper at super speed, and then discarded it in the trash. There were three articles that all tied together. The first was the headline detailing the search for the identity of the dead boy that Lex knew as the real Alexander Luthor. The second was an article that discussed a mass grave that had been discovered in a remote area outside of Smallville, full of partial bodies of various children and adults. The third was an obituary for Parker Harris, the man who had chauffered Lex and Lionel while they were in Smallville on the day of the meteor shower. He'd been hit by a truck and killed less than two hours after the real Lex's body was discovered.

"There," Lex said, zipping into Lionel's office to toss the file on his desk.

"Very good," Lionel said. He tapped his watch to stop a timer. "Pity. I expected you back three seconds ago."

"I do have to make sure doors are open before I go through them, Father," Lex said in the driest tone of voice he could muster when he wanted to kill Lionel to stop his evil. "I suppose you want me to put the watch back on."

"No," Lionel said. He took the file and tapped it against his hand as if he was thinking. "I don't think that's necessary anymore. You've learned, Lex. I think we can do away with the watch."

"Really?" Lex asked. He raised an eyebrow at Lionel, wondering what his game was this time.

"Of course," Lionel said, a wolfish smile spreading across his face, "I will have other tasks for you to do now that you're not… restrained. Your speed has grown enough that I think you'll be able to complete them without anyone noticing at Excelsior. Not having the watch will enable you to do so much more, don't you agree?"

"And if I choose not to do more?" Lex asked, rage at the newspaper articles, the flawed part design he'd just delivered and Lionel's endless pushing combining into a highly inappropriate display of emotion that Lex knew he was going to regret.

"Lex, Lex, Lex," Lionel tsked as he set the file down. "I may not be able to hurt you should you fail me but there are others who will pay the price for your defiance. You're quite fond of the cook here, aren't you? There's that old gardener, what's his name? I can never remember."

"Gordon," Lex whispered, feeling like his blood had turned to stone.

"That's it," Lionel said. He nodded and waved a hand at Lex as if in thanks. "Gordon. Yes, there's Gordon. He's getting close to retirement, isn't he? Four grandchildren. Unfortunate about his son's second mortgage. It would be so sad if something were to happen to his son's job. They'd be completely unable to make their payments. Might even get evicted from their home. Poor Gordon would probably feel compelled to keep working to try and help out."

"Stop," Lex said, shutting his eyes.

"And then there's Professor Lyndt at your school," Lionel continued as if he hadn't heard Lex. "Rather a pleasant man but his tastes in internet porn are quite inappropriate for a teacher. It would be such a shame if the authorities were to get an anonymous tip."

"Stop!" Lex snapped.

He slammed his palm into Lionel's desk, deliberately breaking his desk in two. Lionel gasped and bolted to his feet, his eyes wide as he stared at Lex. Lex could hear his heart pounding. Lionel put on an annoyed expression but the quiver of his fingers and the pounding of his pulse at his throat gave him away.

"Enough, Father," Lex said, enunciating every syllable. "You've made your point."

"Good," Lionel said. He smirked triumphantly.

"And I trust that I've made _my_ point," Lex said. He looked down at Lionel's desk pointedly. "Choose your 'tasks' with care, Father. I will not do everything that you desire and one day you will cross the line."

"Hmm, and what happens then?" Lionel asked, raising an eyebrow at Lex in a blatant challenge.

"You die," Lex declared.

Lionel went pale as he read the determination in Lex's eyes. Neither of them moved for a long moment. Rage filled Lionel's eyes as his jaw worked. Lex knew he should relax his fists, lower his shoulders but he didn't. He suspected that threatening Lionel was the wrong thing to do. No, he knew it was. He didn't care. Lex turned and left Lionel's office, returning to his room. Before Lex was returned to Excelsior, Lionel made a point of not being alone anywhere with him.

Lex deliberately purchased a new watch on his way back to school. Once there, he replaced the contents with the largest chunk of kryptonite that he could bear. He made plans for other bits of jewelry that he could wear that could hold some kryptonite. His immunity was going to be vital in the future. It wouldn't take long for Lionel to realize that larger chunks had much more impact on Lex. He needed to be prepared for when Lionel started using the kryptonite against him directly.

+++++

School wasn't as much fun as Clark had thought it would be. It was nice to get to be around other kids. It was really nice to get to be like everyone else and ride the bus, to go with Pete to the elementary school in town. Clark had been so excited on the first day of school.

A week before school started Mom had taken him to school, holding his hand on their way to the administration offices. She'd talked to them for a long time after which he'd had to take a bunch of really easy tests. Mom had said that he was supposed to do his best. Clark had gotten perfect scores on the tests, all the way up to grade nine. On math he was at grade 12.

"He… Mrs. Kent, he really doesn't belong here," the teacher administering the tests had said once she'd reviewed his results. "He belongs in a school for advanced students."

"I know," Mom said with a calm nod. "That's not what we want for Clark. He'll take care of learning on his own. He's very good that way, curious about everything. What we want is for him to get some socialization with other kids his own age. You know that he wouldn't get that at an advanced school."

"Well, if you and Mr. Kent are sure about this," the teacher said hesitantly.

"We're sure," Mom said. She rested her hand on Clark's shoulder. "He'd like to be in third grade since his best friend Pete Ross is in third grade this year."

"Okay, that's where we'll put him," the teacher said, shrugging as if she couldn't understand why they were doing it. "Hopefully things will work out the way you want."

Clark had beamed at both of them. He was delighted that he was finally getting to be like everyone else. Now that he'd been in school for almost a month he wasn't as excited about it. It was _boring_. Sure, he got to go to school and be around all the other kids, but none of them liked him. Pete was still his friend and Lana still seemed to like him in that girl sort of way, but none of the other kids did. The schoolwork was excruciating. Clark had figured out the stuff they covered in their math and science classes when he was five years old.

The only classes he enjoyed were history and reading. The history teacher was nice. Clark had never read most of the history books and the teacher let him do as much extra reading as he wanted as long as it was on subject. He really liked learning about the history of Smallville and America. Reading was good too since the teacher there let him read at his own level as long as he was quiet in class while she taught the other students.

Math was horrible though. The teacher in that class knew he knew everything but she still insisted that he sit quietly and not answer the questions for the other students. She wouldn't let him do physics while the others were doing basic math. After three days he'd taken to having two sheets of paper, one with his homework for the day on it and the other with a physics problem to work on while her back was turned. It got him through the class, which was all that Clark could ask for with her. Art and music were okay too, just kind of dull since Clark didn't much like those classes.

"Whatcha doing?" Whitney asked, leaning over the back of Clark's chair before class started.

"Hmm?" Clark asked, blinking up at him. "Oh, I'm just doing my homework."

"We haven't had the lesson yet," Whitney said, easing back a little as if Clark had freaked him out.

"I know but she wrote the homework on the board so I figured I'd go ahead and do it," Clark shrugged. "It's not that hard."

"You're kidding," Whitney said. He stared at Clark like he was weird.

"No." Clark cocked his head at him. "I already know all of this stuff. Mom and Dad just want me to go to school to be around kids my age."

Whitney looked like he wanted to say something else but the teacher came in right then. She made everyone sit down, giving Clark a stern look. He didn't give her any excuses to get annoyed at him. He just waited until her back was turned and worked on his physics problem. Whitney kept looking at him during class. After class was done Clark turned in his completed homework and headed to his last class with Pete.

"So you already did your homework," Whitney said, surprising both of them by appearing behind them. "Can I look at it?"

"No," Clark said startled. "I already turned it in. I always turn it in before I leave the room."

"No way," Whitney grumbled. He glared at Clark. "You didn't!"

"I did," Clark said as he stepped back from Whitney's glare. "It's done so why keep it over night?"

"Liar!" Whitney shouted. He shoved Clark hard.

Clark stumbled and fell, dropping his books. One of the teachers came over and pulled Whitney away. Pete looked kind of pale as he helped Clark pick up all this stuff. Once they were done for the day Pete pulled Clark aside before they loaded on the bus.

"Clark, he's going to be picking on you if you don't give him your homework," Pete warned Clark. "His dad's important in town. The teachers won't stop him."

"I'm not going to help him cheat!" Clark squawked. "That's wrong!"

"It'll keep you from being picked on," Pete said as if Clark was being an idiot. "Come on, it's not that big of a deal."

"It is too," Clark said, offended by the very idea of it. "He won't learn what he needs to. That's what homework is for, to make sure that you learn things. I won't do it. No way!"

Pete argued with him all the way to his bus stop. Clark didn't budge. It was wrong. He wouldn't do it. He wouldn't help Whitney and his friends cheat. It was like lying and Clark had too much lying in his life already. The truth was important. Cheating was too much like what the Luthors did to the different kids in town, taking something that belonged to one person and using as your own.

The next day Whitney tripped Clark as soon as he walked into school. His backpack went flying. One of Whitney's friends took the backpack and ran. Clark complained to a teacher and got his backpack back with all the papers shuffled around and crumpled up into balls. Whitney tried to read over Clark's shoulder as he did the day's homework before class started. Clark didn't let him. After class one of Whitney's friends tripped him on the way to the math teacher's desk. Clark hung onto his homework and his backpack this time. He turned the homework in with a defiant glare at Whitney and his friends.

After that Clark got a reputation for being clumsy. Clark wasn't clumsy. It was Whitney and the other kids' bullying that made him look like it. He didn't give up. He wasn't going to help them cheat, no matter how much they picked on him. It was wrong. Clark wouldn't do anything that wrong.

+++++

Lex looked around the formal fifteenth birthday party Lionel had set up. There were other students from Excelsior and a lot of Lionel's business contacts. None of them were people that Lex thought of as friends but then Lex didn't have any friends so that was no surprised. The party flowed well enough without his participation in it.

None of the guests seemed interested in talking to Lex. He wasn't interested in talking to them either so he was perfectly happy to stay off to the side sipping sparkling cider that was actually champagne. The alcohol had little effect on him but it tasted better to him than cider did so Lex had little guilt about switching gasses. Besides, when Lionel eventually realized what he was drinking he'd be angry. Lex took his victories where he could. Lionel scanned the ballroom and spotted Lex in the corner. He glared, jerking his chin impatiently at the guests.

Lex drifted away from his wall. He supposed a little caustically that there were worse tasks than socializing with these people. Lionel hadn't tried to get him to murder anyone lately, though the espionage assignments continued. Lex was being very careful not to give Lionel clear victories. All of his rivals knew about Lionel's 'secret soldier', though none of them knew that Lex was the one they should be watching for. Lex made a point of leaving clues behind every time he switched things for Lionel. It was never anything obvious but it was enough that his rivals were quite paranoid about their security lately. Getting into and out of their companies had become nearly impossible, even with Lex's abilities. Lex considered that a win for his side. Lionel appeared to consider it a challenge.

Lex talked with the guests, idly sipping his champagne as they said a few words of congratulations on his birthday and then went on with their own conversations. Once he made it to the other side of the room Lex ducked out of the ballroom. He set his glass on a side table and headed to the bathroom. It was a brief break from the boredom of the party. Hopefully Lionel wouldn't drag the thing out for hours.

"Lex?" Lionel asked, appearing at the door just before Lex entered the bathroom. "Surely you're not abandoning the party so soon?"

"Father really," Lex said. He gestured at the bathroom and raised his eyebrow. "A little privacy, if you please?"

"Of course, Lex," Lionel said. His lips quirked with amusement though his eyes were entirely too intent as he watched Lex.

Lex did his business and washed his hands. He took his time at it, dragging it out as much as he could. Just as he finished drying his hands a horrible screeching noise spiked through his skull. Lex gasped and nearly collapsed. It faded rapidly to a low hum that he could barely hear. It wouldn't be audible to anyone else, even with advanced technology. Lex's face was white when he looked at it in the mirror.

"That's…" Lex shivered. He hadn't thought of himself as Kal-El for ages. He didn't even dare say his true father's name out loud in the mansion but the sound was the one that Jor-El had said would call him once he was on Earth. He stepped out of the bathroom, listening for Lionel. He was busily expounding to one of the women at the party about how wonderful LuthorCorp was and how far they were going to go in the future, all with that lascivious tone that said he wasn't thinking about the woman's career goals.

Lex nodded and turned away from the party. He went into super speed and ran out of the mansion. It was easy to follow the sound. He expected it to lead him to Smallville, as that was where he had landed. It couldn't be Kara. Lex was quite convinced by now that she hadn't been sent to Earth with him. It might be his spaceship but Lex suspected that some of Lionel's latest advances had come from tearing his spaceship apart and reverse engineering the surviving components.

Instead of Smallville the sound led him to New York to a mansion that put his father's to shame. Lex hesitated outside the door, starting when a dark haired older woman appeared at the door. She smiled at him warmly and gestured for him to come inside.

"Come in Kal-El," she said. "Dr. Swann has been looking for you. I'm glad that you finally found us."

"You know my real name," Lex whispered, staring at her.

She nodded calmly as she led the way into the mansion. "Of course. Dr. Swann has been studying the message sent from your homeworld for years. Come with me. He's waiting for you upstairs."

That there had been a message from home shocked Lex worse than the summons. He'd assumed that his parents hadn't done anything other than send him. He assimilated that and then nodded, stepping inside the mansion and following her.

"Who are you?" Lex asked, listening to Lionel back in Metropolis at the same time he listened to her. It was difficult to balance the two conversations mentally.

"My name is Bridgette Crosby," she said. "I work with Dr. Swann."

Dr. Swann turned out to be nothing like what Lex had expected. He was an attractive man with black hair and blue eyes but he was in a wheelchair and had a respirator attached to his throat. Lex studied him while Dr. Swann all but dissected him with his eyes. The hum was coming from a small box on a table in the room.

"Welcome Kal-El," Dr. Swann said eventually. Bridgette left the room, carefully shutting the doors.

"How do you know who I am?" Lex asked. He was far too aware of the way Lionel's voice had changed back home. He had been gone too long. Lionel had noticed his absence. "I don't have much time, Dr. Swann. My absence will be missed very shortly."

Dr. Swann nodded. It was a bare few millimeters of movement but it was enough to convey a strong nod by the scientist. "I have a message and a gift for you," Dr. Swann explained. He maneuvered his wheelchair to the table. "Open the box, Kal-El. Your destiny awaits."

Lex frowned at the dramatic phrasing but did as Dr. Swann asked. He gasped and snatched up the long lost key to his spaceship. Dr. Swann smiled. It was a tight smile that showed little of his emotions. Lex shivered, caressing the key. He'd assumed that it had disappeared when his ship crashed. He had no idea how Dr. Swann had located it. He was just glad to have a bit of his homeworld back. In Metropolis Lionel murmured to one of the servants to locate Lex.

"I've been missed," Lex said as he looked in the direction of his father's home. "I need to go. What's the message?"

"Computer!" Dr. Swann said. "Display message."

A screen came down from the ceiling as a projector started up. Kryptonian text began scrolling over the screen, displaying the same message over and over again. Lex stared at it while fighting his emotions. It wasn't the message that he'd been expecting given Kara's not being there to protect him.

_'This is Kal-El of Krypton, our beloved son, our last hope. Please protect him and deliver him from evil. We will be with you, Kal-El, all the days of your life.'_

"Do you understand it?" Dr. Swann asked.

"Yes," Lex said, tucking the key into his pocket. He had to breathe hard not to start crying. They had called him 'beloved'. He hadn't been beloved for so very long. "Do you?"

"I believe so," Dr. Swann said. "Do you need help, Kal-El?"

Lex looked at him, hesitating before answering. The servants were looking for him. He didn't have much time before he had to be back at the mansion. He didn't know enough about Dr. Swann to be sure that he was any more trustworthy than Lionel and his cronies. Lex had learned not to trust since Lionel found him but the look in Dr. Swann's eyes made him hope for the first time in a long time.

"Yes but I can't discuss it now," Lex nodded. "My father's aware that I'm gone. Do you know my human name?"

"Of course," Dr. Swann said, turning his wheelchair and going to the door. "Come back when you can, Kal-El. We will give you whatever assistance we can."

"Thank you," Lex said. "I truly appreciate it."

He didn't give Dr. Swann the time to reply. He sped out of Dr. Swann's mansion and back to Metropolis. The servants hadn't gotten to searching the garden so Lex pretended that he had been hiding in the garden with a bottle of champagne. Lionel looked ready to chew iron and spit nails when Lex was escorted back into the party and delivered back to his side. Lex swayed just enough that Lionel would think that he'd decided to drink himself senseless.

"Where were you?" Lionel growled.

"Enjoying the garden," Lex said. He waved at Lionel. "This is your party, Father, not mine. You can't blame me for wanting to take a break from the boredom. You could have at least included someone _interesting_ for me to… play with." He deliberately used a lascivious tone of voice, knowing that it would provoke Lionel.

"I'm so sorry that you're bored, Lex," Lionel said. Sarcasm all but radiated from him. "I'll have to find something to occupy your attention then."

"There's always that highly attractive young executive assistant," Lex suggested with a copy of one of Lionel's leers. "Miss Amelia, I believe her name is? I'm sure I'd be quite, quite fascinated by her."

"Very funny, Lex," Lionel snarled. She was the girl he'd been flirting with earlier. "I doubt that she's interested in a callow youth."

Lex looked over at her, bestowing a charming smile on her. She blushed and fluttered her hand up to her hair, preening a little. Lionel saw the reaction, glaring at Lex. Lex snagged a glass of champagne from one of the passing trays. He lifted his glass in a little salute to her. She grinned and ducked her head shyly while watching the two of them through her lashes.

"I'd say that she's after money and rank, Father," Lex said, smirking. "Perhaps she'd rather have that money and rank associated with youth rather than… wisdom. Do excuse me. I think I have some socializing to do."

Lionel let him go. Lex spent the rest of the party flirting with Amelia. It was quite obvious that she was a gold digger but Lex didn't mind that. She was convenient. She distracted Lionel from Lex's absence. She was a little difficult to get rid of when the party was over but Lionel's annoyance at the flirting came in quite helpful then. He hustled the girl out and forbade her entrance to the mansion again.

Lex returned to school, investigating Dr. Swann as secretly as he could given Lionel's spies. What he found reassured him. The scientist was reclusive, brilliant and not connected to Lionel. Lex took to speeding over to New York for five or ten-minute intervals every day, pestering Dr. Swann with questions about how he'd discovered the message and where he'd gotten the key.

Dr. Swann wasn't terribly forthcoming, but he did feed Lex enough information to keep him coming back. He'd apparently detected the message shortly before the meteor shower. Lionel's presence in Smallville hadn't been chance. He'd been part of a group that Dr. Swann had formed and then disbanded when they decided that control over the 'Traveler', Lex, was more important than learning from him. The key had been found when the real Lex's body had been discovered. Dr. Swann had spent a great deal of money to acquire it before Lionel could.

Their interaction and growing friendship ended fifteen days after the party. That day Lex woke to news that was full of reports of how Dr. Swann's mansion had blown up in what appeared to be a gas main accident. Dr. Virgil Swann, his daughter Patricia and his assistant Bridgette Crosby were all killed in the explosion. Several blocks had been burned to the ground and windows had broken for nearly a mile surrounding the blast. Lex read the articles twice before pulling out his phone.

"Father," Lex said with careful control of his voice so that he wouldn't reveal how upset he was.

"Lex, what a surprise," Lionel said. He didn't sound surprised at all. "To what do I owe the honor of your call?"

"Have you read the news about Dr. Swann?" Lex asked. He did his best to make it sound like a business inquiry.

"Such a pity, that," Lionel said. His voice went smarmy with satisfaction. "It's such a shame that that brilliant of a man lost his life in that tragic accident. And after he survived such a terrible crash earlier in his life."

"I see," Lex said, looking out the window at the sun. "I suppose you're already working on buying out his business?"

"I don't see the point," Lionel said in an elaborately casual tone of voice. "There's nothing there that would be of a benefit to the company. We were already more advanced than anything his company had to offer."

"Well, if that's your opinion," Lex said in a carefully hesitant and confused voice. He made sure that his face matched his tone of voice for the benefit of the cameras he knew still existed in his room.

"It is," Lionel said. "I'm afraid I have to go, son. I have a meeting to get to."

"Yes sir," Lex said, hanging up the phone.

Lex didn't look at the camera in his room. He pretended to study the newspaper with a slight frown. He felt like flinging things through the wall. He thought about running back to Metropolis and breaking Lionel's neck, despite the large chunk of kryptonite Lionel had started using as a paperweight. This was no accident. Dr. Swann had died a bare half a month after contacting Lex and offering him help.

He had died because he knew of Kal-El. He'd died because he'd dared to befriend Kal-El and give him hope. He died because Lionel would never give up his power over Lex. He died because Lex had dared to believe that someday he could win his freedom from Lionel. Lex eventually folded up the newspaper and threw it away. He couldn't do this again. Three more people had died because of him, plus all the people injured in the blast. He couldn't trust again, not until Lionel was dead.

+++++

"Whoa," Clark breathed.

Denny, one of the boys from his PE class, stepped out of the bathroom. That wasn't what surprised Clark. The surprise was that he'd gone through the door like a ghost. His hand was out as if he'd tried to push the door open but gone straight through instead. Denny gulped and looked around, spotting Clark staring at him.

"Oh God," Denny whimpered, shaking as he stared at Clark.

"No, it's okay," Clark said quickly. "Don't worry. I won't say anything!"

He hurried over and shoved open the door so that Denny could go back into the bathroom. It was empty, which was good. He needed to get Denny to calm down or he would do something stupid that would get him noticed. Being noticed would not be good. Clark knew that. Denny obviously knew it too from the way he was shaking.

"Okay," Clark said, taking a deep breath. "Seriously, it's okay. I don't think anyone saw except me. It'll be all right."

"No it won't," Denny said. His eyes were wide from fear. "I'm not supposed to do that. I didn't mean to. I can't, I can't… I can't control it!"

"Sure you can," Clark reassured him. "You have so far, haven't you? Look, if you stay calm it'll probably help."

"No, it's getting harder," Denny hissed. He wrapped his arms around his chest, biting his lip. "It's like it's getting stronger."

"Oh," Clark said, surprised.

He hadn't noticed his healing getting stronger but he hadn't done anything that would get him hurt in a couple of years. He was pretty sure that his healing wasn't going to change as he aged but maybe everyone was different. It made sense that they'd be different. They all had different powers. Denny glared at him.

"Why do you even care?" Denny asked caustically. "Aren't you going to report the freak? I hear they're offering rewards now. Your family could probably pay off its mortgage if you turned me in."

"No!" Clark squawked angrily. "That's wrong and it's horrible. Nobody deserves to be treated that way, no matter what that Luthor says. He does bad things to town with that plant of his. He hurt my friend Pete's family. He's mean and horrible and he shouldn't ever be allowed to have any power to hurt anyone. I won't tell. I promise I'll never tell!"

Denny shook his head as if he couldn't believe Clark. He tried to lean against the sink and stumbled as he went straight through it. Clark tried to grab him to stop him from falling but his hands went through Denny. Denny caught himself before he fell into the floor. He looked like he wanted to cry.

"Come on," Clark said. "Try and calm down. School's almost over. If you can calm down I'm sure it'll be okay."

"You don't understand what it's like," Denny said, shutting his eyes as he tried to concentrate. "It's not that easy."

"So tell me," Clark pleaded. "I'll listen. I'm smart. Maybe I can find a way to help you keep control."

Denny shook his head. His lips moved like he was counting silently. After a count of twenty he reached out and touched the sink hesitantly. When his hand didn't go through it, Denny latched onto it like an anchor. Clark smiled, glad that Denny had gotten that bit of control back.

"Better?" Clark asked.

"Yeah," Denny said. "It's so hard. It's like my body wants to be all ghostly all the time. I have to think to be solid."

"Do you feel safe?" Clark asked. He cocked his head to the side. "I mean, it seems to me like you'd be safe from being grabbed or hurt if you were a ghost so being solid means that you're not safe. So… maybe do things that make you feel safer?"

Denny stared at him, his eyes wide again. This time it seemed more like surprise that Clark understood than fear. Denny laughed a little and nodded. He looked at the door to the gym, his bottom lip wobbling.

"It's dodge ball day," Denny said.

"Okay, _that_ makes total sense," Clark said, nodding and pointing at Denny as if he was brilliant. "I hate dodge ball day. How about this? I'm kind of clumsy. Everyone'll believe it if I get hit and claim that it hurts. You can help me go to the nurse and we'll just say we didn't want to get hit by Whitney and his friends. She's nice. She'll probably let us sit the class out."

He really didn't like the idea of spending any time at all around the school nurse but it would keep them safe. That was way more important than Clark's fear of doctors. Mom and Dad always said that he needed to get over his fear someday. Maybe this could be a start of it? Denny nodded slowly at Clark's plan.

"You'd do that?" Denny asked.

"Yup," Clark said while his stomach started turning flips. "Keeps you from being discovered and me from getting a dozen hits from Whitney."

"What's his problem with you?" Denny asked as Clark headed back out of the bathroom and held the door for him.

"Won't help him cheat and I'm a brain," Clark said, shrugging. "I think he just doesn't like me. He kind of picks on all the brains but I'm the worst 'cause I won't give him my homework to copy."

"I know he doesn't like you," Denny said. He didn't explain that because the coach came and got them.

They joined the rest of the kids. They did end up on the same team so Clark's plan looked like it would work. It was really easy actually. As soon as the balls were given out Whitney and his friends started targeting Clark. Clark dodged two balls but took one to the stomach and two to his head. He squawked, knocked right off of his feet by the impacts. He coughed and whimpered, letting Denny help him to his feet. The coach yelled at Whitney and his friends, letting Denny help Clark to the nurse's office.

"I don't see you in here very often," she said, smiling at Clark and Denny.

"It was dodge ball day," Clark explained. "Whitney was being mean again. Can we stay here for a while? I don't want to get hit anymore."

"Of course," she said, patting Clark's head as she had him head over to the examination stool.

He only let her check him out because Denny was there. She wasn't a doctor or a real nurse but she still made him afraid. Eventually she gave them lollipops and let them sit on the cot together while she did paperwork. Denny looked at him out of the corner of his eye. Clark was really grateful when they finally got to go back just before the end of class.

"Why suggest that if you're afraid of her?" Denny asked as they walked back.

"Because it got us out of gym," Clark shrugged. "I'm afraid of all doctors and nurses. Always have been, my whole life."

"Really?" Denny asked. He stared at Clark in surprise.

"Yeah," Clark said, shrugging again.

At first Pete wasn't that happy about Denny being Clark's new friend but he warmed up to him when Denny stood up for them against Whitney's teasing a few days later. It was really nice to have another friend. Clark helped Denny with his math, not cheating but explaining things that he didn't understand. He came over to visit at the farm a couple of times though Denny's mom didn't seem comfortable with Denny socializing. Clark thought she was afraid that he'd reveal too much. One day Denny told Clark about his dream to become a doctor someday. He laughed at Clark shudders.

"No, not the sort that pokes people with needles," Denny laughed. "The sort that does research and figures things out."

"Oh, 'cause of…" Clark waved his hand at Denny because he was unwilling to say it out loud even in his tree fort.

"Yeah," Denny nodded. "I want to make it better. I want to help people. I mean, we're only ten but that doesn't mean I can't do it when I'm older, you know?"

"I bet you'll be great," Clark declared. "Just don't expect me to visit your office. Doctors creep me out."

They laughed and headed back inside when Denny's mom called for him. Clark looked for him the next Monday but Denny wasn't on the bus. Pete didn't know what had happened to him. No one else seemed to care. They headed into the school, Clark still scanning for Denny in the crowd.

"Too bad about your freak friend, Brain," Whitney said snidely as Clark went to his locker. "Maybe that big brain of yours is a freak power too. Then we wouldn't have to put up with you at school."

"What?" Clark asked. He felt like his heart had just stopped.

"Oh you didn't know?" Whitney asked as if he was really concerned. "The sheriff got called to Denny's house on Sunday. Apparently he was a freak or something. LuthorCorp came and took him away."

"No," Clark breathed.

Whitney laughed at him. It felt like something inside of Clark broke. He swallowed hard and shoved Whitney as hard as he could, knocking the bigger boy down. The next thing he knew a teacher was pulling Clark off of Whitney and saying something about detention and calling his mother. Whitney had a black eye, a split lip and he was crying. Clark started crying as the teacher took him to the principle's office. Denny was gone. He'd failed. One more kid had been lost and no one cared.

+++++

"Damn, you are way too good at that."

Jason's voice broke as he petted Lex's scalp. Lex hummed appreciatively around Jason's cock, taking him all the way to the base. School policy said that they could both get thrown out for this but Lex didn't give a shit. Between dealing drugs to his fellow students and fucking his teachers for pay he'd earned enough money that he might be able to live on his own sometime soon. He really wanted out of Lionel's grip and if this is what it took, so be it. Besides, Jason was hot and rich and such a momma's boy that was certain Jason wouldn't want to bring a boy home to meet her.

"Fuck, damn it Lex!" Jason gasped and started bucking his hips.

Lex sucked harder, milking Jason's cock with his lips and tongue while caressing his balls. He kept the suction at human levels. He had long since learned how much force a human cock could bear. Jason whimpered, grabbing Lex's head to start fucking his face. Lex encouraged him, enjoying the purely physical connection far more than was healthy.

This was all he could allow himself. He could fuck or be fucked but he could never love. Lionel would find out if he ever dared to care about any of the people he fucked. He would destroy them. No matter how much he wanted a deeper connection to those around him, Lex wouldn't take it. He'd only take this, the illusion of passion and caring that came from casual sex.

"Yes!" Jason shouted as he erupted into Lex's mouth.

Lex let him hold his head there as he swallowed it all down. Jason moaned as he came down. His fingers drew little designs on Lex's scalp. Eventually he let Lex go so that he could collapse back on the bed. Lex assumed that Jason's room was bugged. At this point he assumed that every single room at Excelsior was bugged.

"Satisfied?" Lex asked as he pulled back and licked his lips.

"Hell yes," Jason groaned. His heart was pounding almost hard enough for it to be audible to people without Lex's super hearing. "That was… damn! How the hell did you get that good at sucking cock?"

"Practice," Lex said. He shrugged and pulled his shirt back on. "Pleasure doing business with you, Jason Teague. Do let me know if you're interested in another round."

Jason frowned and sat up to grab Lex's wrist. His eyes had a strange mixture of confusion, wounded pride and curiosity in them. Lex didn't pull away. He did raise an eyebrow at Jason. Surely he didn't think that this was more than basic prostitution? Jason didn't seem that naïve.

"You seriously fuck guys just for money?" Jason asked. He looked a little revolted by the idea.

"Of course," Lex said, nodding. "Or girls. Or teachers. Whatever. I don't get my mother's inheritance for years and father cut me off long ago when he found out about the drugs. If I want something then I have to work for it."

"That is sick," Jason breathed. "Look, if you need some help getting out from under your old man's thumb I can help."

"I don't need help," Lex snapped as he pulled his arm out of Jason's grip. "There's nothing that you can do. You want to fuck me, fine. I'm up for that at the prices I quoted you earlier. You want to feel like a big man saving someone, take it somewhere else. I am not a damsel in distress and I don't appreciate being treated like one."

"It's still sick," Jason mumbled as his face flared red.

"I don't deny that," Lex said. He put on his jacket and checked his reflection in the mirror over Jason's dresser. He had that just fucked look that brought in more customers. "I enjoy it. See you around, Jason Teague. Welcome to Excelsior."

Lex walked out, convinced that Jason come around eventually. He was new. He'd be filled in on Lex's status as school whore and drug dealer soon enough. Lex got a couple more marks on his way back to his room, which added a cool $500 to his stash of money. In another year he'd have enough to be able to start his own investments, safe from Lionel's grasping hands. He would have to find a way to get a credit card that Lionel didn't find out about but he had time for that.

The next day Jason spotted him and headed right over to chat like they were best friends. Lex gave him a look that was just as strange as everyone else's. At breakfast, Jason sat with him despite Lex's growl. At dinner he pouted because Lex had spent the lunch hour brewing drugs and selling them instead of eating. After dinner he tried to chase off some of Lex's customers.

"Look," Lex snarled as he dragged Jason away from the others. "I don't know what your issue is but you are not my friend. You're just a one-time fuck with delusions of caring. You want a piece of my ass, that's fine. Pony up the money. You want anything more, forget about it. I do not care about you. I don't even like you. I'll give you this one incident but if I catch you trying to scare my customers away again I'll beat the crap out of you, you got it?"

"Ow." Jason looked at Lex like he'd just been stabbed through the heart.

"Don't give me that!" Lex bristled at the kicked puppy look. "You know exactly what I am."

"Yeah, I do." Jason leaned so close that their lips nearly brushed. "This isn't you, Kal-El. This isn't what you were meant to be. You don't have to do this."

Lex's heart nearly stopped. He stiffened up and backed off a half step, staring at the knowledge in Jason's eyes. Dr. Swann had never told Lex who the other members of his short-lived Veritas society were but obviously the name Teague must have been included on the attendance list. Lex hit Jason in the jaw just hard enough to knock him backwards onto his ass. Jason stared up at him, shock and confusion on his face.

"Never speak to me again."

Lex turned his back and walked back to the others, the ones who were satisfied with taking sex in exchange for money. This he could control. This he could deal with. Lex couldn't deal with yet another person who wanted to help him. Jason would only be destroyed by Lionel's machinations. He wouldn't have another life on his hands. He'd find his own way out of this mess.

Jason didn't push it after that. He was around but he never tried to get close to Lex again. Lex was careful to treat him with nothing but scorn. Perhaps he could have been an ally but it was too dangerous to trust him. Jason was nothing but a normal man, with normal parents. Lex wouldn't take the risk. Three months later, close to the end of the semester, Jason pounded on Lex's door in the early morning. Lex checked the alarm clock, frowning at the time. He wasn't used to visitors at 3:00 am. If they wanted a morning quickie they normally paid for the full night.

"What do you want?" Lex demanded. He blocked Jason from entering his room.

"You gotta make him stop," Jason whispered urgently. "He's out of control. You gotta stop him, Lex."

"What?" Lex knew who it had to be. He just had no idea why.

"Your 'dad'," Jason groaned. "Mom's dead. He had her shot. My dad's been thrown in an insane asylum. I called home and there were cops investigating my parents for all sorts of crap. LuthorCorp's already started moving to take over the business."

"I should care why?" Lex asked, knowing that his face showed his real emotions even if his voice didn't.

"Dude, he's your father!" Jason exclaimed. "You have to be able to do _something_."

"I wouldn't be here if I could do anything," Lex sighed. "I'm sorry. You're on your own. I'd suggest running. I'm sure you've got enough cash on you to make it across the border. I hear that some third world countries can be quite nice to live in if you're on the run."

Jason stared at him with his mouth dropped open. Lex shrugged and shut the door in his face. He heard Jason whisper a little curse before running away down the hall. He sighed as he crawled back into bed. They must have done something to try and get Lex away from Lionel. It hurt to know that more people had been destroyed because of him but it wasn't his fault this time. This was on their heads and Lionel's. He'd made it perfectly clear that he didn't want their help, no matter what. Not his issue. He kept telling himself that as he tried to go back to sleep.

"Fuck," Lex swore as he got back up and pulled on jeans and a nondescript T-shirt.

Finding Jason was easy. He was trying to get over the wall without setting off the motion detectors Lionel had paid to install after the Dr. Swann incident. Lex shook his head, grabbed him from behind and vaulted the wall with Jason in his arms. It took about a minute and a half to run Jason down to Patagonia. He deposited him by an automatic teller and then stepped back.

"There," Lex said. "That's all you get. You come back and I'll let Lionel destroy you. Get a fake ID and live a new life. Be someone else."

"Where the hell are we?" Jason asked. He looked a little dazed.

"Patagonia," Lex said, shrugging. "Good luck. Don't be stupid this time. It got your family destroyed. Don't let it happen to you."

"Kal, you don't have to serve him!" Jason grabbed Lex's wrist.

"I don't serve him," Lex declared as he pulled his wrist free. "I just… can't kill him. Stay out of it. I'll find a way to stop him eventually. He can't hurt me and soon enough he won't be able to control me. This is your second chance. Don't waste it."

Lex turned and ran back home, throwing open the blinds while he waited for sunrise and the inevitable call from his father. It came at 5:47 am.

"That was rather foolish, Lex," Lionel said the instant Lex picked up the phone.

"Sentimental," Lex sighed. "He used _that_ name and he was rather tasty. Pity. I would have loved to get to fuck him again but it wasn't to be."

"That bleeding heart of yours is going to get you in trouble someday, Lex," Lionel said. He growled at the mention of Lex's other name.

"Probably," Lex admitted. "Can't be helped. How many of your former friends are left to destroy?"

"Mmmm, none actually." Lionel sounded quite smug. "There is one surviving son who has no clue to his parents past activities but that's it. There's no one left, Lex."

"Probably for the best," Lex said as the sun came over the buildings and poured down on him. "I won't have to kill them when I kill you. I suppose I should probably thank you for taking care of the potential problem for me."

Lionel hung up, which made Lex chuckle. He knew he shouldn't provoke Lionel that way but he didn't care. There was a war coming between them. There was no point to pretending that it could be any different. Lex pulled off his clothes and let the sun soak into his skin. He might as well gather as much strength as he could before the day of reckoning finally came.

+++++

"Whoa. New girl!"

Pete caught Clark's arm, peering through the crowd at a new face that Clark didn't even try and pick out of the crowd. Pete's ability to find every cute new girl at the start of a new year wasn't one that Clark had any intention of attempting to emulate. He didn't want to be seen. The less the others saw him the less he got teased and the less trouble he got into.

"So go talk to her," Clark said, trying to pull his arm out of Pete's grip.

"No way, not alone," Pete squawked. He looked at Clark as if he'd just been betrayed. "She's really cute. Come on. You gotta come with me."

"Pete, I was reading," Clark said, gesturing with the string theory book he'd bought with his summer allowance.

"Clark." Pete whined at him, hitting him with the puppy eyes.

"Fine, be that way," Clark sighed. "I swear, she can't be that cute. I'll go with you but you better not expect me to hold up the conversation."

"No, no, of course not," Pete said with a huge grin. "It's not like last year, man. We're in Junior High now. It's _serious_ now."

Clark rolled his eyes. Girls were always serious for Pete. Clark didn't get it but Mom said that it was just that he was a late bloomer. They headed through the crowd, ending up next to a blond girl who wore a pink shirt with a flower in her hair. She was cute but Clark didn't see why Pete went silent and fidgety when she turned to them.

"Hey," she said, grinning at them both.

"Hi," Clark said, offering the hand not holding his book. "I'm Clark. This is Pete. You're new, right?"

"Yup, Chloe Sullivan," she said, shaking Clark's hand and grinning at Pete's little whimper. "Thanks for asking. Think one of you could show me where the science lab is? That's my first class."

Pete shook his head wordlessly. His mouth worked but nothing came out. Clark sighed and nodded. Pete had to go the other direction to get to his first class but Clark's first class was right next door to hers so he showed her around. She was really nice in that girl sort of way. Clark didn't see what Pete's problem was. He'd never acted like such a goof with any of the other girls that he thought were cute.

"You're reading string theory?" Chloe asked as Clark dropped her off.

"Yeah," Clark said, nodding.

"Do you actually understand it?" Chloe asked with awe in her eyes.

"Pretty much," Clark said. "There's some aspects of it that don't quite make sense but that's because the math hasn't been worked out. Give it a few years and it will be."

Chloe stared at him for a second before snatching the book out of his hand. She flipped through the book and her eyes went wide with awe. It wasn't a popular description of the theory minus the math. It was the mathematical proofs for the theory. Chloe made a little noise in her throat before passing the book back to Clark who blushed brightly.

"I'm kind of a brain," Clark admitted. "I like math."

"Obviously," Chloe said, staring at him. "Wow. That's… wow!"

They shared their next class, English. Chloe stared at him again when the professor talked to him about the text as if he was a fellow teacher instead of a student. At lunch Chloe plunked herself down next to Pete, making him cough milk through his nose.

"Eww, are you all right?" Chloe stared at Pete with the same sort of horrified fascination that his mom had for snakes and really big bugs.

"He thinks you're cute," Clark explained. "That's his way of showing it."

"Well, please don't do it again," Chloe said, edging slightly away from Pete.

"Sorry," Pete coughed.

He mopped up the mess while glaring at Clark who shrugged at him. It wasn't Clark's fault that all of Pete's coolness seemed to have evaporated when Chloe showed up. Chloe shivered as she took a bite of her lunch, turning to study Clark with very bright eyes.

"You weren't kidding when you said you were a brain, were you?" Chloe asked Clark. "That was amazing in English class."

"Not really," Clark said, shrugging casually. "I read that book when I was four and a half. When I started school at eight I was already reading at high school level. I'm just in school because my parents want me to socialize with kids my own age."

"Wow," Chloe breathed.

There was a huge amount of awe in her eyes as she beamed at him, along with something that looked uncomfortably like a crush. Chloe found excuses to join them, always making Pete act like a goof while being goofy about Clark herself. Clark kept trying to push her at Pete but it didn't work. Despite the weird little triangle they seemed to have formed, Chloe quickly became Clark's new best friend.

She was smart and funny. She knew all sorts of things that Clark didn't about the wider world, having grown up in Metropolis. She even put up with Pete's weird behavior until he got over it and started crushing on a different girl.

"So what happens to the kids who are different?" Chloe asked one day after school.

"Dude, we do _not_ talk about that," Pete said, looking around them as if afraid a LuthorCorp goon would appear to take them away.

"It's really not safe," Clark agreed. "Basically they're taken to some special center where they get 'treatment' for their 'differences'."

"And… does anyone ever see them again?" Chloe asked, her expression sliding from curious to creeped out.

"Not really," Clark said.

He didn't meet her eyes. That night he found the article he'd clipped about the mass grave that had been located outside of Smallville several years ago. He took it to school the next day. Chloe chattered about Loch Ness and Bigfoot during lunch. Clark waited until Pete took his tray to dump it and then slid the article into Chloe's hand. She frowned, a question in her eyes until she read the headline.

"Time to get to class," Clark said to cut off the question hovering on her lips.

After school Chloe gave Clark a book of poetry, asking him if he could help her out with one of the poems for English class. He sighed that it was poetry (his least favorite subject) and opened the book to find his article inside with a little note scribbled on it. The note asked 'This is what happens to the kids?'

"Yeah, okay," Clark said, tucking the article back into his pocket while pretending to study the poem. "See it's really a simple poem. It's talking about the nature of lies and how if you make it a big enough one and say it loud enough people will believe it, no matter what evidence you provide to the contrary."

"Dude, you are not analyzing poetry on the bus," Pete groaned. He rolled his eyes, having missed the article swap entirely.

"Come on, I need to write a paper on this," Chloe protested.

"Fine," Pete huffed. "Just don't expect me to listen."

"Don't." Chloe glared at him, her heartbeat pounding at her throat. "The truth is too big and scary for people to face so they just ignore it, right? They'd rather believe the lie than see what's right in front of them."

"Yup," Clark said, passing the book back to her. "It's easier to believe the lie. Safer too. No one wants to be the one to speak up and get in trouble. And too many people have secrets that they need to keep. They don't want their secrets exposed while they help someone else."

Chloe hugged her book to her chest, glaring at the back of the seat in front of them. She looked personally offended by that. Clark was pretty sure that she got it. She believed him that the kids had been killed and dumped in that mass grave. Clark knew that there had to be other mass graves somewhere. If there weren't then the Luthors must have found some other way for the bodies of the meteor affected to be disposed of. Too many people had been taken since the grave was found a few years ago. Clark didn't think for a minute that the deaths had stopped.

"That's stupid," Chloe declared fiercely enough to make both Pete and Clark stare at her. "The people deserve to know the truth. Someday I'm going to be a reporter and I'm going to make sure that everyone knows what's really going on. I'll find the truth and share it with the world."

"That's cool," Clark said, a little worried about her. "I'm sure you'll be great at it someday. Just be careful. It sounds dangerous."

"Clark's gonna be a scientist," Pete said with a sage nod.

"What about you?" Chloe asked Pete.

"I'm gonna be President!" Pete declared. He grinned at her and then looked hurt when she laughed. "Hey, I'm serious. Someday I'm gonna be President of the USA, just you wait and see!"

"I don't doubt it," Chloe said, still grinning at him. "But don't think I'll go easy on you when I interview you."

"Chloe, you can interview me anytime you want," Pete said with a cheesy grin that had just a little too much hope in it to be effective as a joke.

Chloe laughed again, shoulder bumping him. Clark smiled at them. At least Pete wasn't acting stupid around her anymore. They teased and joked like normal people. Clark wondered if Chloe would have more questions for him. Ever since he was little, he'd gathered information on everything the Luthors had done. Maybe together, when they were older, they could stop him from hurting anyone else. Clark sighed. Despite what Pete had said, he really didn't know what he wanted to be when he grew up. All he knew was that he wanted to help people, save them from the dangers that threatened them. He had no idea how he was going to do it yet but he'd figure it out eventually.

+++++

Lex smiled as he walked across the Princeton campus. It was amazing what a change of venue could do for one's sense of control. Lionel tried but there was no way that he could completely control Lex's environment anymore. Graduating from Excelsior and starting at Princeton had completely changed his relationship with the man that he called Father. Adulthood was something that Lionel had apparently not accounted for in his plans to control Lex.

Certainly, he still controlled Lex's money (outside of sex and drug money) and would until he was twenty-one, but he literally could not control every aspect of Lex's life anymore. He had more freedom now than he'd had since he first climbed into his spaceship all those long years ago. Lex enjoyed that freedom, quite publicly.

The newspapers all but had a regular column dedicated to Lex's extravagant behavior and his father's quite public condemnation of it. No one appeared to notice all the little ways that Lionel attempted to keep Lex under his thumb. Lex wasn't sure if it was a case of hiding things in plain sight or if people truly were that gullible. How anyone could believe that Lex could survive the drinking and drug abuse that it took for him to feel intoxicated Lex would never know. It didn't matter in the final analysis. He had a larger measure of freedom than he had since his mother died and that was sufficient for now.

'Damn it, what do you mean you can't bring him in?' Lionel snarled to his security officer in Metropolis. 'What am I paying you for?'

'Mr. Luthor, your son is nineteen years old,' his security officer said. He sounded quite tired. 'Despite his behavior he is free to do as he wishes. If you want to control him you need cut off his money or find some other method of ensuring that he does as you wish.'

'Get out!' Lionel roared. There was the sound of something glass hitting a wall, followed by a door slamming. Lex smiled as if he was enjoying the sunshine pouring down on him. It was nice to hear that people were finally standing up to his father.

'There has to be a way,' Lionel muttered. 'I won't give up.'

Lex headed to class, listening to his instructor drone with half his mind while focusing far more intently on his father's mutters as he searched through paperwork. It sounded like things he'd stolen from Dr. Swann and Genevieve Teague. Lionel spent all day hunting through the paperwork, dismissing every meeting and call with a snarl. Lex was just heading out to a party when Lionel crowed with delight.

'Yes! I knew I remembered something,' Lionel said. Lex could hear the triumphant grin in his voice. 'This should do nicely. The Elements of Power. Now where would they be hidden?'

Lex didn't go to his party.

He stayed in and listened as his father sent people searching across the globe for the Elements. He remembered the Elements. Jor-El had told Kal that they would create a Fortress for him, a place that would be a recreation of Krypton on Earth. Jor-El had said that he would be there, that his spirit would be with Kal for all time. He'd also warned Kal that the Elements couldn't fall into human hands or the world would be doomed.

Lex did his best to behave as normal over the next several weeks. He went to class and ignored the teachers while flirting with the other students. He went to parties. He got publicly stoned and drunk so that the paparazzi had something to report. He fought loud and long against his father whenever summoned to his office. He wasn't going to let his father know that he knew about the search.

'Book me a flight to Egypt!' Lionel shouted to his secretary about three months after his search began. 'I'll spend one day there and then I need to go to the Yucatan.'

'Yes sir.'

Once Lionel had left, Lex used his new powers of flight to go and look into his office with X-ray vision. He wasn't terribly stable in flight with the watch strapped around his wrist but he managed to stay hovering long enough to find the location that Lionel was going on his secretary's calender. Lex nodded, returning to his apartment at super-speed. He got dressed for a party and went out as if it was a normal night. Lex let himself be photographed at the party being his normal wild self and then disappeared out the back door. Lionel was just landing in Egypt. He had a two-hour drive to get from the airport to the excavation site.

"Hope I can do this in time," Lex whispered. He shook his head and put aside his identity as Lex Luthor for the first time in nearly a decade. "I'm Kal-El, last son of Krypton. I will do this. I will stop him. He will not take the Elements and he will not control me."

Kal took off his watch with its hidden kryptonite and tossed it into the garbage. He'd get a new one tomorrow. It was dark and stormy but the increase in power from removing the watch was enough that it felt like midday to him. Kal smiled and shot up into the air. He went straight up, going for a ballistic trajectory. It would be far faster than going along the curve of the Earth. Kal flew high enough that he could see the curvature of the planet. The stars didn't twinkle above him, shining instead with the pure clarity that only came from being outside of the atmosphere. Kal shivered, feeling like himself for the first time in he didn't know how long.

He dove back to the earth, going as fast as he could. The ballistic trajectory cut the travel time to a half hour to reach Egypt. He had an hour and a half before Lionel reached the dig. Kal listened for people talking about Lionel as he flew at top speed towards the site. He arrived in a matter of seconds. Kal hovered high overhead, scanning the site for the Element Lionel thought was hidden within. It was there, inside of a tomb that had just been opened. The crew started ferrying things out, chattering excitedly about discovering an untouched tomb for the first time in decades.

Kal swooped in and used super-speed to take the little sculpture that hid the Element. He was nothing but a whoosh of air to the workers. It looked like they'd already begun to take pictures of the artifacts in the tomb but if Lex was quick enough Lionel would never be able to prove that Lex had stolen the Element from him. Lex shot back up into the air, carefully crushing the sculpture to get the Element inside. The sculpture's debris rained down on the desert, joining the sand and rock there.

"Ahh!" Kal gasped, nearly dropping the Element.

The instant he touched the Element it buzzed, sending out a high-pitched whine that echoed around the world. Kal shook his head and then stiffened as he realized that he could hear a pair of echoing whines. Lionel was about an hour out of the dig site. Kal nodded and spend up into the sky and down again, flying as fast as a meteorite coming to the earth. He had so little time!

The whine came from an old Mayan temple buried by the forest in trees and vines. A LuthorCorp campsite sat close by but they were working on the wrong building. Kal landed, carefully tucking the first Element into his pocket before scanning the temple. The whine peaked and then slowly died out. The sculpture was hidden behind a solid rock wall, sheltered in a hidden alcove buried deep inside of the Temple. He had to break part of the rock wall to get into the temple. It took entirely too many seconds to reach the little sculpture hidden within. Lionel was close to the dig site. He'd realize that Kal had been there soon, that he'd been beaten. He grabbed the Mayan sculpture and sped back out of the temple.

Kal crushed the sculpture and smiled at the onyx black Element. It felt warm and faintly wet in his hand but it didn't do anything or make any noise. Kal put it and the first Element together, wincing as they made another screeching noise. The third Element answered, sending Kal into the air and on his third ballistic journey of the night. The sound led him to China, to a temple with a garden that had a tree framing a quite picturesque building. Kal ignored the garden and building, working quickly to scan the earth for the location of the quickly fading noise.

"There you are," Kal whispered as he spotted a buried iron horse.

He thrust his fist into the earth, pulling the horse out. Someone shouted at him in Mandarin from the gates of the temple but Kal didn't bother to listen to what he said. He launched into the air, going straight up into the sky. The remnants of the horse fell into the Pacific as he flew back to the USA.

"Now what?" Kal wondered while hovering over Metropolis. He put the three Elements together in his hand but they didn't join. They did tug at his hands, pointing him towards Smallville. Kal raised an eyebrow and shrugged. All right, he'd follow the tugging and see where it took him. The tug led him to the entrance to an old cave between Smallville and Granville.

"It would be nice to have some light," Kal murmured, listening to Lionel. He'd just arrived at the dig site in Egypt. "Oh well. No time to waste."

Kal followed the tugging of the Elements into the cave. It took several minutes, far too many minutes as far as Kal was concerned, to find the heart of the cave. He stared at the Kryptonian symbols painted on its walls. He hadn't seen his own language in so long. Kal wandered around the cave, checking everything for any sign of what he should do. The tugging had disappeared as soon as he entered this chapter. When he approached a central monolith Kal jumped. His pocket buzzed at him. Kal put the Elements into his other pocket and carefully fished out the Key he'd gotten from Dr. Swann. It kept buzzing, getting stronger when he approached the central monolith.

"Maybe…" Kal took out the Key and carefully set it in the octagonal hole at the center of the monolith. The cave shook for a moment before a rock slid to the side, allowing a blast of pure white light to bathe Lex.

'Show me what you have,' Lionel demanded in Egypt.

"I'll show you," Kal murmured.

He strode into the hidden inner cave, nodding at the altar. He'd seen his father work on such things back home, though his father's console had been made of crystal, not rock. It took only a few seconds to read the instructions despite how rusty he was at reading his own language. Kal focused far more on Lionel's impatient questions about the artifacts from the tomb than he did on the Elements fusing together. The Stone floated up just as Lionel started snapping at them about needing results and not being willing to wait for idiotic permits.

"Please work," Kal prayed, clutching the Key in one hand and the Stone in the other.

The buzz this time felt like something was trying to rip him apart and recreate him. It lasted for a few seconds. Before it had fully faded Kal's stomach lurched as a transporter clutched him and deposited him somewhere else.

"Beautiful," Kal breathed.

His breath puffed in the icy air around him. He appeared to be in the Arctic circle, with the Northern Lights dancing over his head and a sky that reminded him of Krypton. It was beautiful enough that Kal felt like crying. This was the sort of place he belonged. This cold, gorgeous landscape was so _right_ that all the lush beauty of Earth suddenly felt very, very wrong.

Kal looked at the Stone, frowning. He let it go and it drifted up into the air, doing nothing. Lionel was shouting about someone having stolen artifacts from the tomb. Kal snarled and grabbed the Stone, flinging it into the distance.

"Do something!" Lex snapped. "I don't have time for this!"

The Stone flew a half a mile and then lanced down into the snow. The ground rumbled for a moment before spikes of Kryptonian crystal grew up into the air. Kal whistled, staring at the newly born Fortress with awe. So this was what his father had meant. He took flight and darted into the Fortress, staring around.

"Welcome, Kal-El my son."

"Father," Kal breathed, nearly moved to tears by hearing his true father's voice again.

"You have completed one difficult journey and now must begin another, Kal-El," Jor-El intoned. His voice changed ever so slightly from the warmer tone to one that sounded distant. He didn't sound like Jor-El anymore. "There is much for you to learn before you are ready for your destiny."

"My destiny?" Kal asked, all of Lex's suspicion rearing up at his words and the change in his voice. "What destiny?"

"On this third planet from this star Sol, you will be a god among men." Jor-El's voice became more mechanical with every word he spoke. "They are a flawed race. Rule them with strength, my son. That is where your greatness shall lay."

Kal stepped back. This was not the father he remembered. His father would never have told him to rule humanity. The last thing that he had said before Kal climbed into his spaceship was that he would be loved on earth. His father had kissed his forehead and run his fingers through the hair that Lex was destined to lose on the trip. There had been tender tears in his eyes. This distant voice did not belong to the man who had sent him to safety. He pushed his identity as Kal away, taking back up Lex's suspicious and defiant nature.

"No," Lex declared. "I will not rule them. Not for Lionel Luthor nor for you. They don't need a ruler from the stars. That is not my destiny. I will make my own destiny. I will guide them, help them become something more but I will never rule over them like a 'god'."

"You must, my son," the fake mechanical Jor-El said impatiently. "The fate of the world rests on your shoulders."

'Lex,' Lionel growled as he clicked what sounded like a digital camera's advance button. 'Lex, Lex, Lex! Somehow Lex!'

"You're right," Lex said with a wince at the fury in Lionel's voice. "It does depend on me and I don't have the time to argue with you right now. My greatest enemy has just discovered that I took the Elements of Power from him. I have to get back to Princeton. I'll return when I can slip away unseen. He knows my weaknesses, Jor-El. I cannot do anything that would give him an advantage."

"You may return to the caves by touching this crystal," Jor-El said, highlighting one column. "Return soon, my son. You have much to learn before you fulfill your destiny."

Lex didn't bother replying. The AI calling itself Jor-El was not his father. That much he knew. He had no idea how it had been reprogrammed but it looked like yet another potential ally had been denied to him. He used the transporter to reappear in the caves. His Key was waiting for him in the altar. Lex looked at it for a long moment before hiding it in a crack in the caves. Once it was safe he ran out of the caves and flew back to Metropolis as quickly as he could. He spent the next half hour partying at the club. He wasn't at all surprised when Lionel's thugs appeared to drag him out.

They delivered him to the mansion in Metropolis, putting him in a room that had been equipped with kryptonite locks and lead paint on the walls. Lex shrugged, showered and changed into clothes lying on the bed. He settled in to sleep as there was nothing else to do in the windowless room. Lionel arrived late the next day, still radiating fury.

"Where is it, Lex?" Lionel strode in to glare at Lex like an enraged lion.

"What?" Lex asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You know what!" Lionel snapped.

"If you mean my watch, I traded it for some drugs and an alley fuck," Lex sighed. "Other than that I have no idea what you're talking about."

"The sculpture, Lex," Lionel said.

His voice went icy as he grabbed Lex's shirt and hauled him upright. He had a kryptonite stone in a new bracelet on his wrist. Lex shuddered, his breath catching in his chest. It wasn't that large of a chunk but it appeared that Lionel had purified it. It caused more pain that Lex would have expected from a stone of its size. Lex refused to cry out or shudder at the pain it inflicted on him. He couldn't hide the way it made his blood boil and his body cramp.

"I don't know what sculpture you're talking about," Lex panted between waves of pain.

"You will tell me, Lex," Lionel hissed. "One way or the other, you'll tell me."

A week and a half later Lex returned to school. He explained away the quickly fading bruises as a weekend of rough sex gone wrong. Lionel was still convinced, quite rightly, that Lex had stolen the Elements. He hadn't managed to break Lex.

Lex was much more careful about when and where he partied after that. Lionel's net around him was much tighter than it used to be. Lex's apartment was bugged. His car was as well. He could tell after all these years which of his classmates and teachers had been paid off to spy on him. He found it quite amusing that Lionel appeared to have paid off the girl who ran the coffee cart at the library to check up on him. None of it mattered.

Eventually he'd figure out what happened to Jor-El and get his real father back. For now he had to graduate from college and earn enough money to win his freedom from Lionel. Lionel couldn't stop Lex from gaining his freedom. He would win in the end.

+++++

"Finally," Lex sighed as he drove into the mansion's garage.

He'd spent the last several years working to annoy Lionel enough that he got exiled to Smallville. He needed to be closer to the Kawatche caves. He needed to have better access to Jor-El if he was going to figure out what had happened to him. He needed to get the fuck away from Lionel and his manipulative ways.

It hadn't been easy. Walking the fine line between wild, rebellious behavior and dangerously self-destructive behavior meriting commitment hadn't been easy. Lex's presence in the news had become so established that he despaired of cleaning up his reputation once he was free but it was worth it. Every time he 'misbehaved' Lionel had threatened him with being banished to run the crap factory in Smallville, smack in the middle of the meteors that tortured Lex. Lex always rewarded that threat with better behavior, at least for a little while. It had taken twenty-seven separate escalating incidents before Lionel had finally lost his temper and done as he'd threatened all along.

Finally, Lex was home where he belonged. He had his mother's inheritance at last. All he needed to do now was to find an investment opportunity that his father couldn't immediately destroy. Once he had that he would be entirely free from his 'father'. If he could manage that then Lionel's secret reign as the most powerful man in America was going to be over in very short order.

"Pity Lionel didn't see fit to provide servants to clean the place up before I arrived," Lex murmured as he wandered through the mansion.

He shrugged and set to work at half speed. It didn't take long to clean the mansion even moving that slowly. He removed all the drop cloths, dusted the mansion and got the master bedroom set up as his bedroom. Washing the windows could wait for the servants that Lex would hire and Lionel would subvert. The master bedroom was a little grand for his tastes but given time he'd tone down. The office was easy to clean. He smiled at all the books. They weren't new but he did like being surrounded by wisdom. There was so little of it in the people he dealt with daily. Once he was done with that he went to the kitchen and frowned at the empty cupboards and fridge.

"Of course there's no food," Lex sighed. He checked the laundry room where he'd piled the drop cloths. "And no laundry soap. Looks like its time for a shopping run in town. Hopefully I'll be able to find a decent grocery store in Smallville. Though at this point I suppose a basic grocery store will do. I certainly don't need gourmet food out here."

Lex didn't worry about being seen using his powers. He was certain that Lionel had long since bugged the mansion but he could care less. Lionel already knew. He would worry about other people seeing his powers but he was the only person in the building until tomorrow when his things were delivered so it hardly mattered.

Lex headed into town. He drove too fast as always but it didn't matter. The roads were empty and he couldn't be harmed if he did get into a crash. It might be hard to explain his survival but Lex had gotten very good at explaining things over the years. He passed a truck going in the other direction, noting that it carried bales of barbed wire for fences. The load didn't appear to be properly secured. That thought turned into alarm as he roared around a corner and onto the Loeb River's bridge. There was a roll of barbed wire lying on the bridge.

"Fuck!" Lex gasped, pumping the brakes while shifting down as quickly as the car could handle it. He hit the barbed wire and began to spin out of control. He spun straight at a young man with black hair, a pale face and very wide green eyes. "No!"

His foot went through the floorboard. Lex plowed straight into the boy, crashing through the railing on the bridge. He saw the boy's neck break as he impacted the car's hood. His shoulder broke when he smashed into the windshield. He bounced up and over the roof of the car. Lex cursed and broke through the roof of his car, catching the boy in mid-fall. Neither of them landed in the sluggish water of the river.

"No, no, no," Lex whispered as he swooped to the shore with the boy in his arms. "Damn it, no!"

He laid the boy on the ground, automatically scanning his body for the injuries he'd inflicted. Broken neck, broken shoulder, broken spine, broken ribs, broken hip, massive bruising in his internal organs, not that they were working anymore as his heart and lungs had both stopped. Lex moaned. Another life extinguished because he'd come to Earth. He shook himself and waded into the river to pull his car out far enough to make it plausible that he'd rescued himself. It took a little finessing to make sure the angle was plausible but it was worth it. This was already a disaster that might just give his father the leverage he needed to commit Lex. He had to control the situation as best he could.

"Nnnn…"

Lex froze, wading out of the river to kneel next to the boy. He was breathing shakily. His heart was beating. Lex began to X-ray him but stopped as his spine snapped back into place. His ribs healed with audible little snaps. His neck fused in a crinkling sound. The hip made a horrible crunching sound and then fused. The bruising on his forehead began to fade.

"Oh Rao…" Lex breathed, staring at the boy as his eyes fluttered open. They were green, a clear beautiful green.

"What happened?" the boy asked. He looked a little panicked. "Did I pass out or something?"

"Sorry, when I went through the rail you fell off of the bridge. You must have hit your head when you fell," Lex said. Hopefully the boy wouldn't remember exactly what happened. He'd been dead when Lex had flown him to the shore. He shouldn't remember Lex flying or breaking free of his car. Hopefully he hadn't seen Lex's foot scraping against the pavement in a vain attempt to stop his car from going through the railing.

The boy frowned, wincing as he slowly sat up. He looked up at Lex, over at the bridge and then back at Lex again. "I could have sworn that you hit me."

"If I had," Lex said, putting a supporting hand behind his back, "you'd be dead. I think we were both lucky."

"How did you get out of your car?" the boy asked.

"The railing flew up and took the top off of my car," Lex said, wincing inwardly at the way his roof was peeled open as if it had been blown out from the inside. That had to be one of his worst lies ever. "I was able to get free easily. As I said, we both got lucky."

"Yeah," he said. "I guess we did. I'm Clark Kent."

"Lex Luthor."

Lex worked hard not to let his reaction to Clark's family name show. Jor-El had said that he was supposed to go to live with Jonathan and Martha Kent. Clark must be Jonathan's son. He might be the little brother that Lex never got to have. Lex's stomach did flips at that thought. This might be a member of the family he should have had. He'd made himself forget Jor-El's promise in the years with Lionel. It would have broken him to dwell on the happy life he didn't get to have.

"I suppose your… sister is going to tease you about being unlucky," Lex commented, sure that Kara must have loved Clark. He was quite attractive now. He must have been adorable as a child.

"I don't have a sister," Clark commented, cocking his head at Lex and wincing slightly as it pulled at his neck. "I'm an only child. But my best friend Chloe sure will tease me. She loves doing that."

Lex looked at Clark, wondering what was going on behind those green eyes while his heart died inside. Kara wasn't with the Kents either. It could only mean one thing. Kara hadn't come to Earth. She'd either been caught in the destruction of their homeworld or she'd never been sent in the first place. He truly was the last Kryptonian. He was alone, completely alone at last. His dream of finding Kara in Smallville was one of the few things that had kept him going over the last couple of years.

While Lex struggled with his emotions, Clark stared at his car. Lex watched the way Clark evaluated the hole in the railing, the place where the car rested and Lex's footprints on the shore. He raised an eyebrow at the crumpled metal of the roof of the car. Lex's stomach sank as he realized that Clark knew that he'd done something extraordinary. Clark turned back to Lex, taking in his soaked suit and completely unscratched skin. He looked at Lex's lack of hair and cocked his head again. He opened his mouth and Lex wondered what he could say that would deflect Clark's questions.

"You all right down there?"

Lex and Clark both jumped as someone called from the bridge. Lex looked and sighed with relief that it was a sheriff. Clark winced and straightened up. Lex gave him a hand, supporting him as his hip tried to give way underneath him.

"I think we're all right," Lex called. "We both had a bit of a scare but I think we'll be okay. Right?"

"Yeah," Clark said, swallowing hard. "I'll be fine. Just a couple of bruises."

"Clark!" the sheriff said, his eyes going wide. "I'll go call your parents. Stay put."

"Thanks, Ethan," Clark called up to him.

It took less than five minutes for Clark's father to show up. The sheriff had provided blankets for them. Lex took his purely because he should be cold. Clark quite obviously noted that Lex wasn't shivering. He didn't say anything. Given that he was a mutant Lex understood his reticence. He couldn't speak out without drawing attention to his differences. Perhaps it would work out after all. Neither of them could speak openly without dire consequences.

"Clark!"

Clark perked up as an older man pulled up in a battered red pickup truck. He ran over, carefully hugging Clark as if concerned that he might be hurting but couldn't show it. Clark smiled, shutting his eyes as he leaned into his father's embrace.

"Son, are you all right?" Clark's father asked.

"I'm fine Dad," Clark said, nodding. "I just slipped and fell off of the bridge when I tried to see if Lex was all right. Nothing hurt, just a few bruises. Lex, this is my father Jonathan Kent."

"Lex?" his father asked, turning to glare at Lex.

Lex drank in the man's face. He was openly protective, obviously very caring of his son. Lex could see that he was stern but it wasn't a sternness that made him think of unreasonable rules. Jonathan Kent looked like a salt of the earth, the exact opposite of Lionel Luthor. Lex could see why he was supposed to have gone to live with the Kents. They looked like very good people, if Jonathan and Clark were anything to judge by.

"Lex Luthor," Lex said, extending a hand to him. "I'm very sorry. There was a roll of barbed wire in the road. I was going too fast and hit it. I'm just grateful that I didn't hurt Clark."

Jonathan's glare went up several levels of intensity. He pointedly didn't take Lex's hand, shoving Clark behind his back as if to protect him. His lips went so thin that they practically disappeared. The rage in his eyes was backed by a huge reservoir of fear, fear that Lex understood all to well having seen how Clark had come back from the dead.

"If there's any way that I can repay you for endangering Clark—"

"Drive slower," Jonathan snapped. He wrapped his arm around Clark's shoulders and pulled him to the truck.

Lex let them go. Clark frowned as they drove away. Lex thought that he could see the longing in Lex's heart. Lex didn't allow himself to cry. The man that should have been his father loathed him. The man who was his father saw him solely as a tool to greater power. The boy that should have been his brother very likely wouldn't ever speak to him again. He doubted that he'd get the chance to meet the woman who should have been his mother.

And Kara wasn't there.

Lex straightened his shoulders and accepted the offer of a ride from the sheriff. He'd call into town and have groceries delivered to the mansion. He didn't think that he could endure talking to people right now.

Kara wasn't there. He was alone.

+++++

Clark spent the next several days expecting Sheriff Ethan to show up with representatives of LuthorCorp to haul him away. He knew what he'd seen Lex do. He'd seen Lex break through the footboard of his Porsche. He'd seen Lex break through the roof of his car. He'd felt Lex catch him in midair. He'd felt them flying though his eyes had failed at about that point as his body died. He knew that Lex had to have seen his injuries heal. He shouldn't still be free.

Despite that he was free. He'd gone to school like normal, been teased for being a brain like normal, listened to Chloe talk about the strange happenings in town and watched Pete try to flirt with every girl around. He'd pined a little after Lana while hiding his small crush on Whitney. Everything had been the same with no signs of anyone suspecting anything about him. It was freaking him out.

He walked up the lane from the bus stop, wondering what he should do about it. When he looked up he stopped in his tracks. A brand new red pickup truck with a big blue bow sat in the drive. Clark stared at it, shocked beyond words. No one he knew had a truck this nice, not even Whitney.

"Hey Mom," Clark said as she came out to get on the tractor. "Whose truck?"

"Yours," Mom said dryly. "It's a gift from Lex Luthor."

She climbed up on the tractor before pulling a card out of her pocket. It had the initials 'LL' on the envelope in large purple writing. Clark stared at it, taking it from her. His fingers shook as he opened the card and read over the words inside. He frowned, staring at the note.

"'Dear Clark'," Clark recited. "'Drive safely. Sorry for the scare. A maniac in a Porsche.' What in the world? Where are the keys?"

"Your father has them," Mom said, nodding towards the barn.

She had a wary, speculative expression on her face. It matched his feelings pretty well. She started up the tractor and headed off to work so Clark walked behind the barn where Dad was working with the chipper. Clark waited until he turned it off to come over with the note. Dad glared at it as if the note was poison while pulling off his hearing protection and goggles.

"I know how much you want it, Son," Dad said, "but you can't keep it."

"Why did he send it?" Clark asked, far more concerned with that question than getting to keep it. He was fourteen. He wouldn't be able to drive the truck until he got his learner's permit in a year anyway. As nice as it would be for the farm to have a new truck instead of their old one, it made no sense for Lex to have given it to him.

"I'd assume as blood money," Dad growled. He banged a fist into the chipper, glaring at the truck. "He doesn't want us to sue him for reckless endangerment."

"Dad, it's a lot more than that," Clark said, staring at the truck. "He knows."

"What?" Dad went white, staring at Clark.

Clark winced. He'd told them that the fall had been worse than he'd pretended. He hadn't admitted that Lex had hit him. Clark sighed, leaning against the side of the chipper.

"He hit me, Dad," Clark admitted very quietly in case someone they couldn't see was listening. "He didn't miss. He hit me dead on and… well, he has to know. I know what a broken neck feels like. I know my ribs broke. So did my shoulder and hip. He has to have seen me come back from the dead. He saw me heal. He _knows_."

"Fuck!" Dad cursed. He kept cursing, calling Lex all sorts of names, most of which were probably deserved given what the newspapers reported about his activities in Metropolis.

"Dad," Clark said impatiently cutting him off. "He knows and _I'm still here._ I shouldn't be here. I should have been taken away that day. No one has said a word. No one realizes. Lex _Luthor_ knows what I am and I haven't been taken away."

They exchanged worried looks before turning to stare at the truck. Dad frowned, going over to it slowly. He popped the hood, having Clark help him check for tampering. They looked in the engine. They looked under the car. They checked the tires, the interior, what they could see of the electronics. Clark had a pretty good idea of what to look for when it came to bugs and modifications to the electronics in the last couple of years since Chloe came to town. He'd helped her way too many times with stuff like that but as far as he could see there wasn't anything there.

"It looks like a perfectly normal new truck," Clark said after about forty-five minutes of detailed examination. "I'd have to take it entirely apart to be sure but I think it's just a truck, Dad."

"Why?" Dad asked, staring at it.

Clark pulled out the note, staring at Lex's handwriting. "Sorry for the scare. Maybe… he's sorry not for the scare on the bridge but… the other scare?"

"It doesn't make sense," Dad complained. He rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably. "He's a Luthor. He's as bad as his father. You've seen the stories on him. He's as bad of a seed as it's possible to be."

"I know," Clark said, sighing. "I don't get it either. So what do we do with the truck?"

Jonathan snorted, pulling the keys out of his jacket pocket.

"You're going to give it back," Jonathan declared. "I'll call the dealership and have them come pick the truck up. No matter why Lex sent it out here, we're not accepting it. I won't take any of the Luthor's blood money. They've damn near destroyed this town, for all that no one will talk about it. It's going right back and you're going to explain to him that we won't take anything from him."

"Dad," Clark groaned. "We could use it. Your truck needs to be replaced."

"No," Dad said, stomping into the house. "My mind's made up, Clark."

He slammed the door behind him, leaving Clark standing next to the truck with the note. Clark frowned at the note and then gazed at the truck. This wasn't right. It didn't make sense for Lex to have done this. Clark went up to his loft. Time to go through his files on the Luthors to see if he could get a better feel for what had really motivated the gift. They knew about each other's powers but silently asking Clark not to talk about it wasn't sufficient reason for such an extravagant gift. Something more had to be motivating it.

"Hey Chloe." Clark sighed several hours later. It was well past dinner. The truck was long gone. He still had no idea why Lex had done it.

"Hey Clark," Chloe said. He could almost hear her beaming on the other side of the phone. "What's up? What can I do for my favorite budding reporter slash writer slash super scientist?"

"Do you think you could get copies of the police report on Lex's accident?" Clark asked. "Something's bugging me and I think that would help me figure it out. Especially if there are any pictures of his Porsche."

"Okay," Chloe said. He could hear her fingers tapping away on her keyboard in the background. "Got in. You guys really need better security in this town. Seriously, I shouldn't be able to hack the police records this easily."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Clark said. He grinned and rolled his eyes at the familiar complaint. "What's it say?"

"Nothing much," Chloe said thoughtfully. "Just a description of the accident, a drawing—really rough drawing—and a notation that no charges were filed on any side. Oh, no injuries and Lex is paying to fix the bridge so of course no charges. No pictures at all. Looks like Lex's Porsche was already compacted."

"It was?" Clark asked, surprised.

"Mm-hmm," Chloe said. He listened to her fingers tapping on the keyboard. A few seconds later, she uttered a curious little grunt. "Yeah, it's gone. Checked its vehicle identification number. It's listed as destroyed. Odd. The police report says that there was only minimal damage due to water immersion."

"Minimal?" Clark squawked. "Are you kidding me? It went through the railing! There was a lot more than minimal damage."

Clark could almost hear her shrug. "Sorry, Clark, but that's what the report says. Minimal damage and no injuries. Lex must have decided he didn't want any reminders of the incident."

"Thanks Chloe," Clark said.

"No problem," Chloe said cheerfully. "Let me know if you need anything else."

"Will do."

Clark hung up and stared out the window of the loft. It made no sense unless Lex had paid Sheriff Ethan off not to report the damage to his car. The next day after school Clark went to the bridge. They'd already repaired the railing, replacing the damaged section entirely. Clark frowned. They'd repainted the lines, cleaned the bridge of all the broken glass. Someone had painted over the skid marks. They'd even had someone patch the scratch marks from the barbed wire.

Clark went down the bank, staring at the shore. All of the footprints were gone. Someone had come to literally raked the shore to obliterate them. The weather was cold but Clark stripped down to his boxers and waded into the water. He checked where he'd seen Lex's Porsche sitting after he woke up. There were no traces under the water that it had rolled there. It was like it had been dropped in the spot. Clark checked the angle, nodding slowly. There was no way that Lex's Porsche would have landed there, not given what Clark remembered of the accident.

He waded further into the river and ducked under, staring under the water. Right where he'd have expected it he could see the impact of a large object into the riverbed. The hole was already starting to fill with silt. In a few days there would be nothing left to show where Lex's car had actually landed. Clark clambered out of the river, shivering violently. He dried off as best he could, stripping off his boxers so that he could put on his dry clothes.

"He lied so much more than he had to," Clark whispered, staring at the carefully manicured riverbank. "What's he hiding? He could have just paid everyone off but instead he went to all this work. Why?"

Clark wrung out his boxers and tucked them into the outer pocket of his backpack. He didn't know why Lex would be so desperate to hide what actually happened during the accident. Clark knew it couldn't be to protect him. Lex had to have something that he was hiding. Clark nodded slowly. Maybe it was something to do with the other kids who had been taken. If so, it might be a good thing to figure out. Clark still wanted to stop the mutants being taken. Maybe this would give him the ammunition to do it.

+++++

Lex frowned as Hykia battled against him. The kryptonite in her foil's hilt and protective tip made it hard for him to focus. Every advance hurt. Ever time she pinned him was like he was being stabbed for real. He knew that it was yet another of Lionel's little ploys to get at him. It didn't help with the annoyance as she pinned him against the wall. Lex growled and flung his foil at the wall, started when it impacted right next to Clark Kent's head. Lex pulled off his mask and hurried over.

"Clark?" Lex winced at the shocked expression in his eyes. "I didn't see you."

"I uh, buzzed but no one answered," Clark said, looking nervously at the sword in the wall. It quivered at him.

Lex pulled the sword out of the wall, inwardly cursing at himself. This was certainly not the best way in the world to establish himself to the boy who should have been his little brother. Not that Lex thought they'd ever be so close, but still. He had hoped to make a better second impression than first.

"I haven't hired much of a staff yet," Lex said as he tossed his mask to Hykia. "My father expects me to set everything up on my own. I believe it's his idea of a test of my competence."

"Um, if this is a bad time I can come back later," Clark said somewhat quickly. He looked as if he was trying to find an excuse to leave.

"No, no," Lex said, smiling as openly as he could when he knew that there were four cameras watching and recording them at that moment. "I think that Hykia has sufficiently kicked my ass for the day. I'm all yours."

Lex pulled off his fencing jacked and headed downstairs to the office. It was much nicer now that he'd gotten a fire going in the fireplace. He knew that it was still a bit chilly to a human but to Lex it felt quite nice.

"This is a nice place," Clark commented, stuffing his hands in his pockets. He blushed as Lex raised an eyebrow at him and smirked. "I mean, it's roomy."

"It is that," Lex agreed, tossing his jacket onto the back of the couch. He went to get a bottle of water. It was still sealed but Lex knew that Lionel had the resources to drug it at the source if he wanted to. He didn't offer on to Clark on the off chance that it had been tampered with. "How's the new truck?"

"That's why I'm here," Clark admitted with a little sigh. "I can't keep it. I'm sorry."

Lex frowned, automatically scanning Clark's body for the broken bones he'd inflicted. His body looked as though it had never had a single injury in his life. Lex put the water down and walked over to Clark, looking him in the eye. Clark… Lex didn't want to admit how much this mattered to him. He couldn't admit it, not in his study where he'd found three separate listening devices so far. There was a camera recording everything they said and did at that moment.

"Clark, I nearly killed you," Lex said. "I think that giving your family a new truck is the very least that I can do to make up for that."

And it was the very least that would satisfy his father's drive to ensure that the Luthor family always looked its best. Despite Lex's determination to reform his public perception now that he was out from under Lionel's direct supervision, he knew that Lionel would intervene if he knew how much Clark had seen. Lionel would take extreme measures to prevent a lawsuit or worse, publicity revealing Lex's abilities. Paying the family off was far better than Lionel's methods of dealing with the problem.

"I'm sorry but my father won't let me accept it," Clark said, looking at his feet. "He says that it's… not appropriate. You don't need to worry that we're going to sue or anything. We don't have any money to hire a lawyer and my dad hates lawyers. My grandfather is one and well, it's not pretty how they interact. We just want to be left alone."

"Your father doesn't like me, does he?" Lex asked wistfully. He already knew the answer. Jonathan Kent wore his heart on his sleeve. Clark looked like he wanted to say something but Lex shook his head, forestalling him. "It's okay. I've been bald since I was nine. I'm used to people judging me before they get to know me. It's not as if I haven't earned my reputation."

Clark's eyes narrowed as he studied Lex's head. He shook his head sharply as if he was trying to clear a persistent thought. When he looked across the room he stared almost directly into one of the cameras. Lex wondered for a crazy moment if he knew about it but then realized that it was the mirror hanging in front of the camera that Clark was studying.

"It's noting personal," Clark said with a helpless little shrug. "He's just not crazy about your dad."

"He's not the only one," Lex said with a wry smile. "While few will say it openly a large proportion of Metropolis feels that way about my father."

Lex looked into the mirror and it's camera, running a hand over his scalp. Lex went and sat on the arm of the sofa, looking up at Clark. He shuffled his feet a little nervously. Lex smiled sadly.

"Figures that the apple doesn't fall from the tree?" Lex asked. Clark winced and nodded. "It's understandable. I wish that the gift had been received in a better spirit. It wasn't my intention to make things difficult for you."

"Dad had them take the truck back," Clark said, offering the card to Lex. "Thank you for the thought anyway."

"You're welcome," Lex said.

He took the card and went to the fireplace. It burned nicely, curling up on the edges. Clark came and stood next to Lex. They watched it burn in silence. It seemed a nice symbol of Lex's life and his hopes. Everything that he'd ever wanted always went up in smoke. Once it had collapsed into ash Clark looked at Lex.

"Do you believe that a man can fly?" Clark asked.

"Certainly," Lex said. He managed a confident tone despite the way his heart stopped cold in his chest. "In a plane."

"No, I'm not talking about that," Clark said. He looked into the flames again with an intense expression on his face. He looked as though he was trying to decipher the meaning of the universe in the dance of the flames. "I'm talking about soaring through the clouds with nothing but air beneath you."

"People can't fly, Clark," Lex said with his best indulgent smirk on his face.

"I did," Clark said as he turned back to Lex. "It was just for a few seconds after I hit my head. I flew over Smallville. I could see the farm, the plant, even the center of town. It was exhilarating. It was… incredible. I've always felt kind of trapped in Smallville. I'm too smart for my own good. I've always been teased for it. But while I was flying I felt like my life wasn't a dead end. It was like I got a new beginning thanks to you."

Lex looked away. It sounded entirely too much like the reports he'd read about people who died and came back. Clark was treading entirely too close to truths that should not be spoken in the mansion or anywhere that Lionel could overhear. Lex schooled his expression back to fond distance, hoping that the camera angles were bad enough that Lionel hadn't gotten anything too revealing.

"I'm glad that something good came out of my unfortunate accident," Lex said. His voice came out rock solid, somewhat to his surprise.

"It was something good," Clark said, nodding agreement. "Lex, I know that my father hates you and your father. I know that you have entirely too much to do, but I was hoping that we could try and be friends. I don't have many friends, especially people who are smart enough to keep up with me. All the news reports talk about how smart you are. Do you think that we could… try and be friends?"

"I'd be honored," Lex said. His voice shook. Clark had no idea how much the offer of a friend meant to him, no idea at all. He offered a hand to Clark. Clark took it and beamed at Lex.

"Thank you, Lex," Clark said. "I get the feeling that we're going to be the stuff of legends."

"Highly intelligent and creative too," Lex laughed. "Who knows, Clark? Maybe we will be."

+++++

There was a lot more to Lex than Clark had realized when he'd first gone over to talk to him after the truck issue. He was kind, incredibly gentle and strangely watchful. Clark knew why he was always careful about what he said. He could be hauled away as a mutant at any time. He wasn't at all sure why Lex was so careful though.

It took a few days of interacting with Lex after work for Clark to realize that he was being steered away from specific locations in the manor. The careful way that Lex did it made Clark realize that Lex was worried about being bugged. The sheer number of places that Lex got very cautious about his phrasing, expression and body language boggled Clark. It seemed like every room and hallway had to have a bug or two.

"So Mom wanted to meet you," Clark said as they passed one of those locations and headed into one of the 'clear' places in the manor. "We're having roast beef and mashed potatoes and pie for dinner tonight. It's Friday, so you wouldn't have to worry about work tomorrow too. Do you think you could come over?"

"I suppose it would allow me to properly apologize to your parents for endangering you," Lex said, still using his careful tone of voice. "Do they have a favorite sort of wine?"

"Sure," Clark laughed, grinning impishly at Lex. "My mom's homemade cherry wine. If you make a really spectacular impression Dad might let you try his homemade brandy. Come on Lex. You know we're way more of a beer family than a fancy wine family."

Lex spluttered and laughed, startled out of his careful control. He grinned at Clark, rubbing the back of his neck as if he was a little embarrassed. Clark grinned at him, delighted to have shattered Lex's control. He was such a nice person when he wasn't being Lex Luthor. It was oddly as if Lex was two people, not one. He had the bad boy persona of Lex Luthor but hidden under that was another, much better, person that Clark wasn't at all surprised to find himself attracted to. Anyone with complexity tended to fascinate Clark and Lex was the most complicated person he'd ever met.

"I do tend to make assumptions I shouldn't when it comes to you," Lex chuckled. "All right, no wine. Perhaps they'd appreciate some bottles for wine or brandy making?"

"Canning jars," Clark said nodding. "Mom was complaining that she'd broken one the other day so some canning jars would be good. She cans a lot of food from our kitchen garden."

"I imagine that your canned goods must be considerably better than store bought," Lex said. He headed down the stairs from the upper library to the main floor, slipping smoothly back into his Lex manners as they passed another spot that Clark had mentally mapped as bugged.

"I guess," Clark said, shrugging as he walked at Lex's side. "For me getting store bought food was a treat. When I was six my special birthday dinner request was a steak from the grocery store in the little Styrofoam tray and plastic wrap. Mom and Dad thought it was weird but I was delighted. At least until I ate it. The steaks from our steers are a lot better than the store bought ones."

"I'm sure they are," another man's voice drawled from the base of the stairs.

"Father," Lex said. He stiffened so much that it was like he became a third person, a fiercely defensive and angry one that Clark hadn't seen before.

"I do have to wonder why you're wasting your time on local children, Lex," his father said, sniffing and raising his nose at Clark.

"I _did_ send you my report, Father," Lex said. The words were a sneer that matched the expression on his face. "This is Clark Kent, the boy I almost killed in my little accident. Clark, this is your father's favorite person, Lionel Luthor. My illustrious father."

His introduction was so ironic that it was a direct insult. Lionel barely reacted to it, instead studying Clark with eyes that seemed to see straight through him. Clark fidgeted, letting his nervousness show. Everyone in town was terrified of Lionel Luthor. It'd look far too strange if he wasn't, though of course he was terrified of him.

"Um, pleased to meet you I guess," Clark said, bobbing his head and moving to half-hide behind Lex.

"Interesting," Lionel said. "I did wonder why the truck wasn't accepted."

"I'm fourteen," Clark explained with a shrug. "My parents didn't think it was appropriate for someone who can't drive to have a truck. Too much temptation or something."

"Hmph, a very good point," Lionel snorted. He smirked at Lex as if the choice of a truck was a stupid one. "No other presents have been accepted, Lex?"

"No others have been offered," Lex declared, bristling so badly in front of Clark that he seemed several inches taller. "It was made quite clear that none would be accepted. Apparently they didn't feel like accepting Luthor 'generosity'. I can't imagine why."

Lionel's smug expression slid into annoyance. He walked over to Lex who swayed and went very pale. Lionel reached out and put a hand on Lex's shoulder. He was wearing a ring with a large green stone in it. The stone glowed. It blazed brightly as Lionel rested his hand on Lex's shoulder.

"Obviously you haven't offered the right things," Lionel said in a fake-fatherly tone of voice. "I would have thought that you'd learned to be better at interacting with people by now, Lex."

"Some people can't be bought, Father," Lex said. His voice and expression were tight, as if he was barely controlling rage or some other powerful emotion. Clark could see the way his body shook. It looked like Lex's muscles was rippling under his skin, almost like his body was trying to tear itself apart from the inside out.

"Everyone can be bought, Lex," Lionel said. His voice was a husky whisper, as if he was imparting ancient wisdom. "It's only a matter of finding out what their price is."

"That's a beautiful ring," Clark commented. He knew he shouldn't say anything but he couldn't keep himself from interrupting them. He couldn't stand seeing Lionel torture Lex this way. Seeing the way Lex's body reacted to the ring made it entirely too obvious that it hurt him badly.

Lex and Lionel started as if they'd forgotten that he was there. Lionel stepped back, adjusting the ring on his finger with a little smirk. Lex gasped for breath, visibly locking his knees to keep from falling. Lionel held his hand out, regarding the ring with obvious pride.

"Thank you," Lionel said, looking at the ring, at Clark and then back at Lex. "I'm quite proud of it."

"What sort of stone is it?" Clark asked, stepping just in front of Lex to look at the ring more closely.

"Father!" Lex snapped.

"It's meteor rock," Lionel said, the smirk widening at Lex's tone of voice. "Would you like one? Perhaps that would be an appropriate apology gift."

"Oh, is that all?" Clark said, shaking his head no. "Sorry, I thought it was emerald or something and was amazed at how big it was. Meteor rocks are all over the place in Smallville. They're cheap and easy to find. Thank you for the offer but no thank you. I appreciate the thought, not that I really need an apology. I already got one and accepted it."

Lionel jerked as if Clark had slapped him when he said the word 'cheap'. He plastered on a smile that looked as fake as Lionel appeared to be. Clark heard Lex make a little amused snort. He turned back to Lex, smiling brightly.

"Anyway, if you want to come over for dinner you'd be welcome," Clark said. "No big fancy gifts, though. Dad might have to chase you out with his shotgun if you do."

"No, no fancy gifts," Lex laughed. It was a brittle laugh but Clark could see real humor in Lex's eyes. "Thank you for the offer, Clark. With my father here I'm not sure that I'll be able to make it. Perhaps another time?"

"Sure, you're welcome to come by whenever you get the time," Clark said nodding. "I'll see you later, Lex. Give us a call if you can't make it tonight."

"I will," Lex promised.

"Nice meeting you," Clark said, nodding to Lionel.

Lionel snorted and stepped aside to let Clark pass. Clark walked by him and down the hall. He turned and looked back at the two of them when he reached the door. They looked like gladiators getting ready to do battle. Clark was surprised at how little resemblance there was between them. He would have thought that a father and son would look more alike but he didn't see much to tie them together physically. Clark thought that maybe it was the hair but he wasn't sure.

Lex called later that evening with his apologies, saying that he wasn't able to attend the dinner because of his father's surprise visit. Clark thought that his voice sounded like he was in pain but was trying to hide it. Dad was relieved not to have the 'spawn of Satan' at their dinner table but Mom seemed to be honestly disappointed. Clark didn't tell them about the glowing meteor rock. He wasn't sure what to make of it yet. He didn't want to say something that could be overheard or misinterpreted.

That evening Clark headed out to his loft in the barn, shutting the window and starting up his little stove so that he wouldn't freeze. The remodeled room had been a present from his parents after he and Pete had outgrown the tree fort. Nothing there was new, not even the insulation in the walls and ceiling, but Clark loved it. It was his place, his fortress where he could go and think freely about anything in the world that he wanted to.

"So let's see what pictures I've got," Clark muttered to himself as he booted up his computer.

He started doing comparisons of Lex and Lionel Luthor's faces. There were pictures of the two of them going back to years before the meteor shower. In the early pictures Lex had bright red hair. Clark frowned as he realized that the young Lex's eyes were a slightly different shade of blue than the Lex that he knew.

"Okay, this is weird," Clark whispered as he overlaid pictures of Lex before the meteor shower and after it. "They don't match."

Even with factoring in the lack of hair and the generally poor quality of the pictures taken several days before and a month and a half after the meteor shower, the two Lexes weren't the same person. Their noses were slightly different. Their eyes had somewhat different shapes. The eyebrows were profoundly different and the lips, especially the upper lip, were completely wrong. The chin shape and cheekbones were nearly identical but other than that the two faces didn't match at all.

"How did everyone miss this?" Clark wondered as he stared at the real Lex Luthor and the person who was impersonating him.

"Hey Clark!"

Clark started and nearly fell out of his chair as Chloe's cheery shout echoed through the door to his loft. He shut down the program and shuffled his files into a folder, tucking them quickly into a drawer. He hurried over and opened the door, grinning down at her.

"What brings you over on a Friday night?" Clark asked as he let her in.

"Oh, just joining the ranks of the dateless," Chloe huffed. She flopped down on the couch. "Rumor has it that you actually met Lionel Luthor today."

"Ugh, yeah," Clark said, making a face. He sat as his desk, turning the chair around so that he could lean on the back. "That wasn't fun at all. His dad's seriously creepy."

"You sure you should say things like that?" Chloe quipped. She looked around as if searching for bugs.

"Probably not," Clark said with a shrug. "But I doubt I'm the only person who says it. I think someone once told me that everyone in Metropolis thinks that he's creepy."

Chloe laughed, sticking her tongue out at him. "I have no idea what you're talking about Clark, no idea at all."

They laughed for a few seconds before Chloe put another piece of wood into his stove. She sighed happily, holding her hands out toward the heat. Clark cocked his head, wondering what had actually brought her over. Eventually she rubbed her hands together and settled back down on the couch.

"So seriously, what was it like meeting him?" Chloe asked.

"Creepy," Clark said, leaning his chin on a fist. "It was like… they're at war or something. You know how I've said that Lex is really formal and stiff until you surprise him into laughing about something?"

"Yeah," Chloe nodded.

She listened attentively, curling up on his couch like she belonged there. He thought that she did belong there. She sat on it more than he did. He was more likely to be working on his computer. He thought about it for a little bit. He didn't want to say anything about the weird behavior of the meteor rock. Chloe was convinced that the meteors were the source all the mutations in Smallville. Clark tended to agree with her but so far neither of them had been able to turn up any research that proved it.

Besides, the way that Lionel had used the ring against Lex made him think that it was a weakness for Lex that Lionel was exploiting. If Lex wasn't actually Lionel's son, which he didn't seem to be, then other people knowing about that weakness might make Lionel stronger. Clark didn't want that to happen.

"Well, once his father showed up the formality turned into active hostility," Clark said thoughtfully. "Like how Dad gets when the Luthor family comes up but worse. I kind of thought that they'd start fighting right there in the hallway but they didn't. It was a little bit scary seeing the way Lionel needled Lex. I've never seen him lose control that way before."

"Wow," Chloe breathed. She rounded her eyes at him, adjusting her purse in front of her. The movement struck him as odd. Normally she could barely be bothered with her purses. She'd said many times that they were girl-briefcases, not ornaments.

"I don't know," Clark said, studying her purse carefully while waving a hand as if he was looking for words. "I think that Lex really hates his father. It's sad, you know? Parents and kids shouldn't be like that with each other."

"No, they really shouldn't," Chloe agreed, just a bit too quickly. She fidgeted with her purse again as though she couldn't keep her hands off of it.

Clark spotted a tiny glint of glass on one corner of her leather bag, his heart stopping at the thought that Chloe might be spying on him. Clark got up and came over to sit next to Chloe on the couch. She squeaked and scooped her bag into her lap, aiming the little glass lense at Clark. Clark countered by wrapping an arm around her shoulder. Chloe stiffened and then relaxed with a whimpering sigh.

"I'm glad you're my friend, Chlo," Clark confided as he squeezed her shoulders. "I can't talk to Mom and Dad about Lex. Mom worries about me and Dad starts ranting about Luthors destroying Western Civilization. Pete's just about as bad. You're really the only person I have I can confide in about some things."

"I… I'm glad we're friends too, Clark," Chloe said. Her voice was way too strained. A blotchy blush crept over her cheeks as if she was feeling a little ill. "Your friendship means a lot to me."

Clark nodded, running through all the ways that Lionel could have gotten Chloe to spy for him. There was her long-lost mom. Lionel could have promised to find her and reunite them. There was the whole wanting to work for the Daily Planet thing. Clark kind of thought Chloe would sell her right kidney for a chance to be a real reporter. The most likely thing seemed to be her dad. He worked at the plant so threatening her father's job would probably make Chloe jump to do it.

"How's your dad?" Clark asked after a long moment of uncomfortable silence that left Chloe clutching her purse to her chest.

"Oh! He's fine," Chloe said way too quickly. "Fine. No problems. Why?"

"Just wondering," Clark said. "After seeing such a horrible family I kind of worried about the good families I know."

"No, he's… he's fine," Chloe said. She put the fingertips of her right hand against her lips. They were shaking. She swallowed hard as a tear crept down her cheek.

"I'm glad he's okay," Clark said gently, hugging her. "I'd really hate to see anything happen to either of you."

"Clark," Chloe whimpered.

She tossed her bag onto the trunk he used as a coffee table and tackle-hugged him. He held her, rubbing her back while gently kissing her spiky hair. She cried until the front of his shirt was wet and the fire had burned down to low flames over glowing embers. Eventually she pulled back, wiping her eyes and smearing her mascara.

"Here," Clark said. He offered her his handkerchief.

"Thanks," Chloe laughed as a fresh wave of tears crept down her cheeks. "Sorry. I don't know what got into me."

"If I say PMS will I get whacked?" Clark joked.

"Yes!" Chloe huffed, laughing for real this time. She swiped at him with the handkerchief. He pretended to dodge it. " PMS is not the only thing that makes girls emotional. You and Pete, I swear."

She dug into her purse, this time pointing the camera away from them, to pull out a little mirrored compact. She cleaned her face and grimaced once she was done.

"Ugh, I should know better than to cry," Chloe groaned. "I look hideous."

"You look fine," Clark said, smiling at her fondly. "A little puffy and blotchy but fine."

Chloe groaned more loudly. She grabbed one of the pillows and hit him with it. Clark laughed, grinning at her until she smiled back. He offered a hug and she took it, curling up against his chest as if it was the most comforting place in the world to be. Clark held her until the loft started cooling off. Dark had fallen so the fall chill was creeping in quickly.

"You going to be okay?" Clark asked.

Chloe shivered, glancing at her purse and the camera that she had to have hidden inside of it. "I think so. I think I just had a bad day. A bad week, really."

"Everybody has bad days, Chlo," Clark said. "They're not the end of the world."

"Yeah," Chloe said, sniffling and straightening up. "I better get home, Clark. See you Monday?"

"Of course!" Clark said. He smiled at her warmly. "I should have that mutant frog article for you by then though I still don't think that the principle will let us run it in the paper."

"He should!" Chloe huffed. She scooped up her bag as she passed the wet hanky to Clark. "People deserve to know about this stuff."

Clark walked her out to her car, sighing once again that Chloe was old enough to have a driver's permit and he wasn't. She grinned at him and then hugged him tight again before she left. Clark watched her tail lights recede down the driveway with an almost painful tugging at his heart. Dad was right. Being friends with Lex was dangerous in ways that he didn't expect. He never would have thought that Lionel would try and coopt his friends to spy on him.

Clark headed back up to the loft and checked everything that Chloe had touched for bugs or cameras. There didn't seem to be anything but that didn't mean that by tomorrow there wouldn't be. Lionel Luthor appeared to have decided that Clark was interesting. There wasn't much that Clark could do about it besides be careful. At least Chloe was a terrible actor. Who knew what he would have said or done if Chloe hadn't been acting so strangely?

It wasn't until Clark had gone back inside and gone to bed that he realized that he'd never once thought that it was Lex spying on him.

"I guess I should consider it," Clark whispered into his pillow.

He sighed. He knew that he wouldn't. He'd seen the Lex behind the mask. He knew that this Lex wasn't the same Lex as Lionel's original son. He didn't know yet what was going on in the Luthor family but eventually he'd figure it out. Clark settled in to sleep, smiling. He drifted off to the thought that together they could probably take Lionel down, though first he had to get Lex to trust him.

+++++

Lex endured his father's sanctimonious advice and kryptonite ring Friday evening. He endured it all of Saturday, during which Lionel flatly refused to tell him why he was there. They had several fights, all of which Lex lost because of the kryptonite and his determination not to commit murder. He was on the verge of breaking the old man's neck despite his resolve by Sunday afternoon so he stormed out and went driving instead of improving the world by removing Lionel from it.

"It would improve the world," Lex muttered as he drove up the Kent's lane.

He wasn't sure visiting without warning was a good idea but Lex wasn't comfortable in town. Too many of the shops sold meteor rock souvenirs. He could hide his responses to the kryptonite but he couldn't hide the way the rocks glowed around him. It was far to difficult to explain so he'd resolved to stay away from downtown as much as possible.

No matter what, he could not stay in the manor any longer. The Kent farm was the next logical choice, other than driving to Metropolis and getting smashed, which would only prompt his father to enact further restrictions on Lex's life. He'd finally gotten where he wanted to be. He wasn't going to risk losing it so quickly.

Jonathan Kent appeared on the porch as Lex drove up. His face went from curious to disgusted as soon as he realized who was intruding into his home. Lex swallowed hard, put on his best cordial but confident expression and got out to smile at Jonathan.

"What are you doing here?" Jonathan demanded.

"Escaping from my father for a little while," Lex said. "He's… being difficult."

Jonathan's face shifted to grim as he studied Lex's face. Lex hadn't been away from Lionel's ring long enough for the bruises to heal. Of course it would likely take several days given that Lex had started wearing his kryptonite-laden watch during his father's visit. He didn't want to accidentally reveal an ability that Lionel didn't know about. He'd grown quite used to not being impacted by the kryptonite within so he knew that he looked pale and shaky. Jonathan opened his mouth to ask the obvious questions that Lex didn't dare answer.

"Do you know where Clark is?" Lex asked, cutting him off before he could speak. "He said that he had some math he wanted me to look at when he visited on Friday."

"He's in the barn, in his loft," Jonathan said, the grimness turning into a displeased glower. He stomped into the farmhouse and shut the door just a bit too firmly. It wasn't quite a slam but it was close enough to convey his irritation at Lex.

Lex didn't allow himself the sigh he wanted. Jonathan's obvious rejection of Lex still hurt though of course he had every right to feel that Lex was a dangerous interloper in his home. Lex mastered his expression before he left his car's side. He didn't want to upset Clark just because he was feeling rejected by the man that should have been his father.

After a minute he went into the barn. He raised an eyebrow at the room that had been created at one end of the barn. It had been built in one of the lofts above the working main floor, enclosed to create a sturdy room. Lex knocked on the door while eyeing the bent nails with amusement. They held some of the siding in place well enough he supposed. It was quite obviously an amateur job. He wondered if Clark had created the place himself.

"Yeah?" Clark said, opening the door. His face lit up like the sun coming out when he saw Lex standing on the landing. "Lex! Come on in. What are you doing here?"

"Visiting," Lex said. He stepped inside Clark's sanctum and gazed around. "Nice. Did you build all of this yourself?"

"Most of it," Clark said. He was studying Lex's face with concern. "Not the barn of course, but Pete and I enclosed this loft and weatherproofed it."

The walls had been covered with a patchwork of various types of boards. It gave the room a pleasantly homey feeling, like something that you might see in a rustic lodge. More accurately, this was what the rustic lodges were trying to invoke with their carefully chosen wood paneling and mock-aged interiors.

One wall had newspaper clippings and photographs pinned to it. Clark's memorial, if that was what it was, covered most of that wall and extended partway up the ceiling. The opposite wall to the clippings was covered with bookshelves holding well-loved science and math books mixed with paperback novels and comic books.

There was an old couch with an old trunk as a coffee table, a battered old armchair and a desk covered with more paperwork of some sort. A battered old laptop sat in the middle of the stacks of paper. A small wood-burning stove sat comfortably near the couch, radiating heat from the fire snapping within.

"It strikes me as a very you sort of room," Lex commented after a moment studying the room.

Clark laughed, grinning at Lex. "I should hope so. It's mine. What happened to your face?"

"My father and I had a disagreement," Lex shrugged casually. "Its not uncommon. He believes that I should be able to defend myself so he does like to test my fighting abilities from time to time."

"You mean he beats you up and you don't want to talk about it," Clark sighed. He sat at his desk, looking up at Lex with sorrow in his eyes.

"You're quite blunt," Lex replied. He didn't confirm the statement. He only raised an eyebrow at Clark.

"I know. Insufficient early socialization according to the school counselor," Clark said. "I was home schooled until I was eight. I only go to school because everyone says I need to learn to be around people my own age. The schoolwork bores me to death. I was beyond most of that before I started school."

Lex paused with his mouth open, unsure what to say to that. He'd had entirely too many school counselors say the same thing about him, though they were referring to his sex, drugs and exceedingly bad attitude. He rather doubted that their reasons for saying it to Clark were anything similar. Instead he turned to the wall of clippings.

"An interesting project," Lex said, gesturing towards it. "What is it?"

"Um, my… memory wall, I guess," Clark said, shrugging. "Chloe has one at school at the Talon where she records all the meteor mutant issues in town. Mine is more focused on the mutants that were taken away. Sorry, I started it before I met you but a lot of it focuses on the activities of LuthorCorp since they take the kids and never give them back."

"You've been investigating LuthorCorp?" Lex asked, rounding on Clark who started and stared up at Lex.

"Yeah," Clark nodded. He had a puzzled frown on his face as if he couldn't understand what the problem was. "Its all stuff that's publicly available. A lot… a lot of people I knew growing up were mutants, Lex. It matters to me how they're treated. I can't change it but I do…" He gestured at the wall as if trying to finds words for his obvious obsession. "I do pay attention to it. No one else seems to care. "

As he gazed at the articles and photos Clark's face matured dramatically. A far more mature look replaced the boyish one. He looked years older and decades sadder. Lex's heart, and unfortunately his groin, reacted in ways that were massively inappropriate for the boy who should have been his little brother. Lex berated himself. Clark was underage, his only friend and _not_ someone who could defend himself against Lionel's wrath.

Worry beat in Lex's heart. Clark was investigating them. He was investigating Lionel. It wouldn't take very much for him to disappear like the others on his memory wall. Lex knew what Lionel would do if he discovered Clark's ability to heal. It wasn't something that Lex wanted added to Lionel's stock of genetic traits. It might be the one thing he needed to make his proposed super soldiers functional instead of worthless. He had no intention of allowing Clark to be taken that way, not that Lex could do much about it if Lionel did take him. The kryptonite surrounding the labs was far too thick for Lex to be able to deal with it.

"You shouldn't do this," Lex said, striding over to Clark's side. "Clark, its not safe. You shouldn't have these here. You need to take it down, stop investigating."

"No," Clark declared, standing up to glare into Lex's eyes.

"You don't know what he'll do to you," Lex said.

"Yes, actually I do," Clark said.

He went to the wall and pulled down an article that had a note scribbled in girlish handwriting. It was the article that Lex had seen all those years ago while on a mission. He'd forgotten the mission but he'd never forgotten the article. It detailed the mass grave that had been found outside of Smallville holding the bodies of dozens of men, women and children. The note said 'This is what happens to the kids?' Lex suspected that it was Chloe Sullivan's handwriting, giving him another person to worry about.

"Then you know that this," Lex passed the article back to Clark and waved at the wall, "is too dangerous!"

"I don't care," Clark said, anger rising on his face at Lex's dismissal of it all. "I can't stop, Lex. There has to be something that can be done to stop this."

"A broken neck might do it," Lex muttered.

His stomach twisted with disgust at the thought of murdering Lionel. He knew that it would end the horrors that Lionel inflicted on the world but he couldn't bring himself to do it. Half of him wanted to see that Lionel suffered for his crimes. The other half simply couldn't abide the thought of murdering another thinking being. He would not become another Zod.

"What?"

"Nothing," Lex said in a normal tone of voice. "Clark, I completely agree that this has to stop. I've agreed with that for a very long time. No one has the power to do it right now. I'm sorry. It's a tragedy in the truest sense of the word but that doesn't mean that you should throw yourself at the same death that they all went to. You need to _stop_."

Clark stomped back to his wall, placing the article back in its spot. He glared at it for a long moment before turning back to glare at Lex. There was something dark and dangerous in his eyes, something that Lex wasn't quite sure how to interpret. It was as though he was looking straight through Lex or perhaps past him.

"I can't believe you approve of this!" Clark exclaimed.

"Approve of it?" Lex squawked. "I most certainly do not approve of it. It's vile and reprehensible. I simply don't have the power to stop it, Clark. Obviously I don't." He gestured at the bruises on his face. "You can't let yourself get caught up in this. No one will be able to save you if you do, especially not me!"

Clark came over and stood practically nose-to-nose with Lex, glaring fiercely into his eyes. He was a bit taller than Lex and wider in the shoulders. His farm work had obviously graced him with impressive muscles. He smelled of hay and animals and paper and something essentially Clark. Lex's long training as a slut made him want to slide to his knees to worship Clark's body but that would be one of the stupidest things he could do.

"Bugs…" Clark whispered after a second, his lips barely moving and his expression unchanged.

Lex's heart skipped a beat. He turned away from Clark and started pacing, sweeping the walls and ceiling with X-ray vision as he paced. Clark stayed in place, his arms crossed on his chest. There were bugs, one in the wall by the door, one under the floor and another that had a camera watching their entire conversation. Lionel had already gotten here. Lex had said too much without realizing the danger.

He ran over the conversation they'd had, realizing that it might be possible to salvage it yet. He thought that he could take it in two directions, one of which would satisfy his father and one of which would likely get him run out of town on a rail. Seducing Clark—the severely underage, very male Clark—and getting run out of town would not allow him greater access to the caves so he went with what his 'father' would expect.

"What do you want from me?" Lex demanded, making sure that he was placed properly so that the camera could see his cold, angry expression. "I'm doing everything that I feel comfortable with. I will not risk my heath any more than I already do!"

Clark winced, taking in the bruises that marked Lex's face. He was sure that the paleness from the kryptonite in his watch added to the impression that he was severely hurt and trying to hide it. His father certainly seemed to believe that he'd broken several ribs in their last fight. He had of course, though Lex had made sure to remove the watch just long enough to allow them to fuse once his father left the room and he was in a 'safe' place in the mansion.

"I'm sorry," Clark said, looking honestly heartbroken. "It's just… almost every single person I've ever made friends with has been taken away. Well, not Pete or Chloe but so many others. I'm looked down on because I'm too smart and adopted. I sort of… I just want to make the world a better place, especially for the people affected by the meteors."

Lex sighed and rubbed his face tiredly. "The best way you have to do that would be to become a scientist and find a cure. There's… no cure for meteor affliction yet, Clark. They don't come back because they're a danger to themselves and the world."

"You really believe that?" Clark asked, studying Lex.

Lex shrugged. "I've… seen enough to be… cautious… about those with meteor powers, Clark. The insanity rate is sky-high and with those powers they can be truly deadly."

Clark sat in his desk chair abruptly as if he were defeated. He leaned his elbows on his knees and stared out the window at the farm. Lex looked too, wishing that he could say all the things he wanted to say. He wanted to tell Clark that none of the taken survived more than a few weeks at most. He wanted to tell Clark that they died quickly once the experiments were done. He wanted to say that one day Lionel would be executed for his crimes against humanity but he didn't know that was true and it wasn't something he dared say where Lionel could hear it.

"I can't sit here," Clark said, slapping his thighs before standing up. "You want to take a walk? I think better when I'm moving."

"It's better than going back to the mansion and getting into another fight with my father," Lex nodded. He absently rubbed his ribs where they'd been broken. They were still sore but not terribly badly. "I need a break."

"Does he beat you all the time?" Clark asked as he pulled on a jacket.

"No," Lex snorted. "Most of the time we yell at each other and I run off somewhere to get smashed and fucked. That's not possible in Smallville, which is probably part of why he sent me here."

"Yeah, that would get you in serious trouble with the Sheriff here," Clark said. He went so red that his cheeks matched his old jacket. "You're… gay?"

"Bi," Lex said calmly as Clark headed out of the loft. "Male or female, it makes little difference to me."

There were several more bugs in the barn and a couple in the house when Lex scanned it. Lionel had been quite thorough. He must have moved during the night on Friday or Saturday. Clark appeared to pick up instantly when Lex spotted the bugs. He was scarily bright, Lex realized, smarter than anyone he'd ever met. It should frighten him away but Lex didn't run. He needed to be in Smallville and that meant dealing with Clark and the Kent family.

Clark led the way out into one of the pastures, walking slowly while scanning the ground for cow patties. "I don't know anyone else who likes both," Clark admitted shyly.

"Most people find it easier to choose," Lex said with a shrug. He could hear an antenna somewhere close by. It might be a CB but it might also be a directional mike. "I tend to gravitate to males for quick encounters and females for longer things. Eventually I will need to have an heir you see."

"I never thought of it that way," Clark said, cocking his head to the side to study Lex.

"You're fourteen and live in Smallville, Kansas." Lex smirked at Clark's blush. "I'd be surprised if you'd done anything more than occasionally think about it."

Clark laughed, nodding. Eventually they walked down into a hollow between some trees that covered the banks of a little brook. It was beautiful even though most of the leaves had fallen. Lex smiled, enjoying the untouched beauty of the spot. Clark headed to the water's edge, kneeling down to dabble his fingers in the water. Lex joined him, spotting tiny fish swimming in the water amongst green, blue and the occasional red rocks. None of them glowed as Lex approached, thank goodness.

"How many bugs?" Clark murmured just barely loud enough to be heard over the brook's noise and his casual splashes.

"Three in your loft, two in the main barn, one in the kitchen and one by your bedroom window," Lex answered in an equally quiet tone. "I'm sorry. Associating with me has killed more people than I can count, Clark."

"Yeah, well, it's good that I can't die then," Clark whispered, smiling grimly.

"Your parents can," Lex said, giving him a stern look. "So can Chloe and your friend Pete. Be careful. I can't even protect myself. I won't be able to protect any of you."

Clark nodded and stood up, rolling one pebble between his fingers thoughtfully. When he turned towards Lex it was close enough to start glowing. Lex backed off a step abruptly, the disorientation too much when combined with his injuries and the watch. Clark started and tossed the pebble back into the river as if returning it to its home. His apologetic look said to Lex that he'd already figured out his weakness to kryptonite.

"I should stop investigating," Clark said as he turned back towards the farmhouse. "I know I should."

"Why don't you?" Lex asked, watching for cow patties.

"I can't." Clark's expression was a mixture of frustration, obsession and need that would have been more at home on Lionel's face than his. "I just… can't. It's one of the things about me, Lex. I need to know. I need to understand. Mom thinks it has something to do with my intelligence. I've yet to encounter anything that I can't figure out an answer to so when I come up against a social problem that can't be fixed I try and attack it the same way I do math."

"That doesn't work very well," Lex murmured.

"Yeah, tell me about it," Clark groaned. He rolled his eyes dramatically. "Seriously, I _know_ how terrible I am at dealing with people. It's painfully obvious. I try really hard but my mind's going a million miles an hour and I just miss stuff that I would have seen if I'd been paying attention. I can slow down for people I care about but everyone else gets trampled."

Lex laughed. Clark blinked and stared at him, a smile flirting around his lips.

"Sorry, just picturing a herd of bulls with your face trampling everyone on the main street," Lex chuckled.

Clark started laughing too. They were both grinning by the time they made it back to the farmhouse. Lex managed to avoid getting any manure on his shoes. Clark didn't. He'd been laughing too hard to notice one older cow patty. When they got back to the yard Clark's mother poked her head out the kitchen door.

"You are coming in for coffee and pie, aren't you?" she said, raising an eyebrow at Clark and nodding at Lex.

"Its really good pie," Clark said hopefully.

"Then I suppose I have to try some," Lex said.

"Clean your shoes off first boys," Martha said with a huge smile that was nearly as warming as Clark's smiles. "I'll go put the pot on."

They did as directed, coming inside to sit at the homely little table. The pie was better than advertised, with a flakey crust that melted in Lex's mouth. The apple filling was sweet and spicy and nearly as warm as Martha's approval of him. Jonathan still glowered but it seemed that he was more upset about the bruises than about Lex himself.

"I'm asking," Jonathan finally said as he sipped his coffee.

"Honey," Martha scolded him. She put her hand on his arm, looking at him sternly.

"Your father beats you," Jonathan declared. "It's obvious so don't try and deny it. Why the hell do you stay there?"

"I… occasionally… manage to temper some of his worse impulses," Lex said very carefully and very slowly. They were in camera range of the kitchen bug. "And until recently I had no money of my own that wasn't earned in… shall we say less then ethical ways? I'm sure you've seen the news."

Jonathan winced, looking away. Martha looked sickened, as though she couldn't imagine why anyone would do that. Clark just looked intent, as if he were fitting the pieces of a puzzle together in his head. Given who he was, he probably was. Lex was somewhat afraid of what Clark might be figuring out inside that head of his. His healing might not be his true gift. It might be that brain of his.

"I didn't want to believe the reports were true," Martha admitted. Her knuckles went white around her mug.

"There's a lot that didn't get into the news," Lex said in a streak of masochistic honesty. "I… my father and I fight and then I act out. Or we fight and he beats me up. Or we fight and I beat him up but that doesn't happen very often. He's quite the brawler and he cheats. I try and fight with some level of honor. He doesn't. It's all tied up in our less than stellar relationship. I'm sorry but practically everything you've heard about me is probably true."

"How are you going to stop it?" Jonathan demanded. "I can't believe that you'd just keep going back for more."

"I have some vague plans of what I want to do," Lex said. He wished he could say openly what he wanted to do but that wasn't going to happen when their house was bugged. "I've got some money of my own now and I'm looking for investment opportunities my father can't ruin. I will get my independence eventually. It's a matter of time and endurance, I'm afraid."

Jonathan snorted and pushed back from the table. He took his plate and mug to the kitchen, putting them in the sink with more force than was necessary. He started pacing, a thunderous expression on his face. Martha sighed, shaking her head while smiling ruefully at Lex as if she'd been expecting this. Clark looked equally resigned. Lex looked at them, puzzled.

"That's not how it should be," Jonathan declared in the most obvious pontificating tone of voice Lex had heard outside of his father's sanctimonious speeches about familial duties. "Father's don't _do_ to their children. It's, it's, it's wrong!"

He gestured wildly, stomping back towards the kitchen. Lex raised an eyebrow at Clark who ducked his head to hide a grin. Martha raised a hand to hide her grin though the laughter showed clearly in her eyes.

"He gets like this," Clark murmured as Jonathan drew breath to continue his speech. "Nod and agree and it'll be over more quickly."

It turned out to be quite the speech, full of homegrown homilies about the value of familial love and parents raising their children to be good members of society. Jonathan felt strongly about parents setting firm rules for their children but not punishing them unduly. He carried on at some length about how wrong it was to strike a child in anger.

Lex listened with a polite expression on his face while trying not to laugh until he was sick and crying. Lionel was listening. He would hear every single word of Jonathan's speech. It didn't matter if this was a private little rant to his family. Lionel would still make Jonathan, and possibly the entire town, pay for having spoken against him.

+++++

Clark hesitated outside of Lex's office. After Lionel's bombshell announcement two days ago that he was shutting down the Smallville plant and firing everyone in town who worked for LuthorCorp, everyone had blamed Lex. Dad had nearly gone through the roof this evening when they got a call from the bank saying that they were going to have to call in the mortgage on the farm.

"The Luthor family has destroyed this town!" Dad had bellowed. "Everything they touch goes to hell! I can't believe we let that snake in the grass into our house!"

"Honey, language," Mom had huffed, catching his arm to keep him from waving a fist around.

Clark didn't say anything. He left Mom the job of calming him down. Instead of going up to his loft he headed through the fields to Lex's mansion. It wasn't that far of a walk when you cut through the fields though it took a bit to drive.

He honestly didn't think that Lex had anything to do with it, other than having been sent to this town. Clark kind of thought it was Lionel's way of ensuring that Lex didn't get a chance to enact his vague plans to free himself. Everything that he'd found during his research said that Lionel was using every means fair and foul to hang onto Lex, though he wasn't sure yet why Lionel was determined to keep Lex. It was obvious once you knew that Lex wasn't really his son so there shouldn't be a connection there.

The guards allowed Clark into the mansion without comment. They looked grim enough that he wondered if they were getting fired too. They carefully didn't meet his eyes so maybe they just knew that he was trouble. He hesitated outside of Lex's office for a long moment. He wasn't sure that it was a good idea to come over with all the bugs in the mansion but he needed to talk to Lex. He thought that he might have a way to help them all. It would hurt Lionel too, though it wasn't going to be easy to implement his plan. Clark raised his hand but didn't knock on the door as his nerves got the better of him.

"You might as well come in," Lex called through the door.

"Sorry, I wasn't sure you wanted a visitor," Clark said.

He poked his head inside to study Lex before coming in. He added the possibility of superior hearing or being able to see through walls to his mental list of Lex's powers. Super strength, invulnerability, flying, super hearing, possibly X-ray vision; it was amazing at how much he could do. Clark had never heard of a mutant with powers like that, but maybe that's why Lionel wanted him? He'd been altered to have lots of powers instead of one.

"It can't hurt," Lex sighed. "What can I do for you, Clark?"

He waved for Clark to come in all the way. He looked exhausted, still pale and weak as though he was on the verge of going into shock. His bruises were starting to go yellow and green which seemed a little fast according to the map of normal healing that Clark had developed in his head. Despite that, he looked like he was still hurting. Clark took a deep breath and let it out slowly before opening his mouth to talk.

"Buy the factory, buy the bank and make Smallville your liberating investment opportunity," Clark said.

"You don't ask little things, do you?" Lex laughed. He stared at Clark with a somewhat awestruck expression that had amusement mixed into it. "I don't have that kind of money, Clark."

"No, but if you form a consortium of people you could do it," Clark said. "Seriously, I've been doing the math and it could work."

"Why buy the bank?" Lex asked. He appeared to take Clark's suggestion seriously which pleased Clark. Most people didn't listen to him until he pulled out the charts and data, sometimes not even then.

"They… decided that to survive they have to foreclose on all the farmer's mortgages," Clark said slowly. "We heard tonight that they're going to either require us to provide a lot more equity or they'll foreclose on us. There's no way that anyone around here can do that."

"Fuck," Lex breathed, leaning back into his chair. He rubbed his hands over his face, wincing away from the watch on his wrist.

Clark frowned, studying the watch. It seemed really big and thick for a watch, especially one that he would presume was expensive. He couldn't imagine Lex wearing a cheap watch. Lex rubbed his arm. The flesh around the watch had that same crawling appearance that Lionel's ring had caused. Clark rocked back on his heels as he realized that Lex was hurting himself. He nearly said something before remembering the bugs in the room. Lex was wearing the same meteor rock that Lionel tortured him with. He couldn't imagine why Lex would do that but he noted it down as something to investigate later.

"Do you really think that it could work?" Lex asked. He dropped his hands and looked at Clark as if they were equals in age and education.

Clark nodded seriously. "I do. Seriously, I think it could work. It's going to be hard and your father will try and destroy you, and us, but he's already doing that so why not? Lex, don't keep playing his game. He'll keep destroying everything you touch. You need to take a stand. Why not here? Smallville is small, if you'll pardon the pun. We're tough or we wouldn't have survived the meteor shower. We want to live. If you give us half a chance I know that we'll support you against him."

"He's dangerous," Lex said dubiously.

"Yeah, we all know that," Clark agreed. "So what? He's already killing the town. He's been attacking us and stealing our kids for years. If you buy the plant and the bank it won't matter. You'll have a base to start from and we'll have a chance to survive. So will you. This can be your base and you can expand your strength from here."

Lex looked at Clark for a long while, studying his face. Clark wasn't sure what Lex was thinking. There was something faintly distant in his expression, as if he was thinking thoughts that weren't quite human. Clark didn't let it bother him. Lex had been through so much that it wasn't a surprise that he thought differently. Eventually Lex nodded sharply.

"Who do I need to talk to and where are they?" Lex asked.

Clark beamed at him. Lex chuckled and snapped his fingers at Clark to hurry him up. Clark nodded and sat on a corner of his desk. They wouldn't have much time to get this in place, not with the bugs in the mansion and on the farm. Clark told Lex all the people he could think of that had the money to be able to help Lex and then headed back home.

By the next morning the news was full of Lex's surprise efforts to buy out the plant and bank. It was all that anyone could talk about on the bus. Everyone at school was talking about it too. By the end of the day Lex had put his entire inheritance from his mother on the line and gotten approval from the bank that they'd hold off on all the foreclosures until the deal for the plant was arranged. He probably wasn't going to get to buy the bank but promising to keep the plant open was enough to get the bank to pull back on their foreclosure plans.

"All right," Dad said once Clark got home from school and had joined him in the chores. "I admit it. I was wrong."

"About Lex?" Clark asked with a huge grin.

"Yes," Dad growled. "Don't be so happy about it, Clark. We don't know yet if he'll succeed."

"At least he's trying," Clark said. "That's the important part, right?"

"Maybe," Dad grumbled. "Unless his father succeeds in stopping him. Then he's thrown his money away and lost everything for everyone."

Clark glared at him. Dad looked back at him and shrugged. They kept working. Clark didn't say that he thought Dad was being too pessimistic. Mom had already said that several times over the last couple of days.

The next two weeks turned into the most exciting weeks of Clark's life. Lex's efforts to save the factory and the town became news outside of the area. It drew in news reporters who scoffed at the 'bad boy' turning over a new leaf while breathlessly reporting every little thing Lex did. It also brought assistance from people who had known him at school and some federal assistance. Clark hadn't known that Lex had known the Wayne family in Gotham or the Queen family in Star City. Both of them helped Lex buy out the plant. Oliver Queen even offered grants to the farmers in town to help them pay down their debts. Bruce Wayne set up scholarships for the kids in town.

Lex seemed quite pleased to get Bruce Wayne's assistance when Clark visited, raving about having seen him at school but never really talking to him. Clark's question about Oliver Queen was met with a furious glare and a clipped comment that not everyone got over being an egotistical bully but that didn't mean they couldn't occasionally manage to be useful later in life. Clark didn't ask questions about Lex's schooling after that. He just searched the Internet and found more lurid tales of Lex's prostitution, drug dealing and being bullied. He didn't think he'd ever meet Oliver but if he did Clark intended to give him a black eye for Lex.

Clark spent those two weeks quietly and carefully located the bugs that Lionel had put in the house, pointing them out to Mom and Dad so that they realized that they had to be careful. It didn't take much for Dad to render the ones in the house nonfunctional. Some 'maintenance' on the house took care of that. It took a bit of 'remodeling' to find the ones in the barn in his loft but Clark got them out. He didn't think that it would last but at least Lionel knew that he knew and would be watching for new ones from now on. That did no good for long distance mikes but it was better than feeling watched in his personal hiding place.

School was more than a little weird. Everyone knew that Clark had been the one to talk Lex into making the attempt to buy the plant. Despite Lionel's insistence that it be shut down and destroyed, the government approved Lex's buy out so it stayed open. Clark was surprised at how many people suddenly wanted to be his friend, including Lana. She talked to him more than she had in years, which made Clark feel like he'd started channeling Pete's awkwardness with Chloe.

"Dude, stop acting like me," Pete teased before the last class of the day.

"I know, I know," Clark said, blushing brightly. "I can't help it. She looks at me and my stomach gets all fluttery and the next thing I know I've tripped and my books are everywhere. It's embarrassing!"

"Yeah, I know. So next time don't tease me when I get a crush on a girl," Pete said, grinning at Clark. "Now you know what it's like you can show a little more sympathy instead of being a putz."

"Har de har har," Clark huffed, glaring at him. "At least I don't do it every day on a different girl."

They parted ways for their last classes. Pete reminded Clark that he'd be in football practice after school. Clark rolled his eyes. As nice as it would be to be normal there was no way he was ever going to be on the football team. Brains didn't make the football team. If they tried out they only got beaten up. Brains did the science club, which was much safer other than the explosions and random weirdness that went along with too many smart kids who'd been provided with supplies that could cause mayhem.

Both Lana and Whitney were in Clark's last class. He did his best to pay attention but it was math. He'd understood everything the teacher was talking about when he was seven years old. Clark stared out the window, which just happened to be behind Lana's seat. It was completely an accident. It wasn't his fault that she happened to be in his line of sight. His stomach flutters reminded that he couldn't lie to himself.

Lana caught him looking at her and ducked her head to hide a grin. Clark blushed and went back to doodling string theory calculations in his notebook. When he looked up Whitney was glaring at him with a strange expression on his face. It was like he was trying to decide whether to be angry with Clark or frightened about something. Clark ducked his head, trying to figure out what Whitney of all people had to be frightened of. His family's store made him fairly immune to the economic troubles related to the plant. Clark sighed. He was probably just afraid that Lana would dump him, not that she'd ever go for Clark. Every guy in school was interested in Lana.

After class was over Clark went and cheered Pete on during practice. He didn't really care about the game but Pete was his friend so it seemed appropriate to root for him. Pete got slaughtered and benched pretty quickly. The game was excruciatingly boring after that. Clark read, occasionally watched and was utterly grateful when it was over. Clark headed for the parking lot while Pete got cleaned up. Pete had his learner's permit at last so he could give Clark a ride home. The parking lot was mostly empty with just a couple of trucks and cars from the practice left.

"Kent!"

Clark turned and immediately backed off a step. Whitney and his cronies were glaring at him. Whitney had Lana's meteorite necklace around his neck. It glinted darkly, telling Clark exactly what Whitney had been so annoyed about during their last class.

"Umm, I'm just heading home," Clark said, continuing to back away.

"No you're not," Whitney declared. He strode over and grabbed Clark's arm in a painfully tight grip to keep him from fleeing. "We've got something special planned for you Kent. Congratulations, you're this year's Scarecrow."

"Whitney, don't," Clark begged. "You don't need to do this. She wouldn't look at me twice if it weren't for Lex. I'm not going to cause you any problems. This doesn't have to happen."

"That's where you're wrong, Clark," Whitney whispered, pressing his face up into Clark's. "You're wrong. Luthor's not giving me any choice. Now go along with it or it'll get deadly, got it? We're being watched."

Clark started, staring into Whitney's desperate eyes. His buddies had eager, shit-eating grins. They obviously had no clue that this was anything more than the normal Scarecrow hazing that happened every year. Whitney's grip around Clark's arm was so tight that he knew it was far more for Whitney. There was far too much fear in Whitney's eyes.

"Please," Clark breathed, "Don't hurt me."

"Only if you struggle too much," Whitney promised. His lips barely moved as he said the words.

Clark did struggle a little, just enough to make it look like he was struggling. Of course it wasn't effective. He probably could have broken free if he'd really worked at it. Working on the farm had given him some serious muscles under his flannels but Clark didn't dare struggle hard enough that Whitney or his buddies hurt him. Any injury he got would heal too quickly. They'd see it and then he'd be taken away. Lex had already said that he couldn't save Clark from that. No one could save him from that.

Whitney made a pretty convincing show of it. He hit Clark a few times in the stomach and once in the ribs hard enough to make Clark gasp and collapse. They tied him up and threw him in the back of a pickup truck, driving away just as Pete came out of the gym and called for Clark. One of the guys had his hand over Clark's mouth so he couldn't cry out to Pete. Not that Clark intended to. He didn't want Pete to get mixed up in this, not if he was right that Lionel had decided to send him a mostly-harmless lesson about aiding with his son.

It was mostly harmless. Clark tried hard to convince himself of that as Whitney's friends continued to hit him while Whitney drove them to a cornfield outside of town. Clark had no clue which one it was. They slapped him around a little, not too much since Whitney had taken the lead again. He said nasty things about geeks trying to get the girl while he did smacked Clark. Clark just focused on acting appropriately cowed and in pain. The marks were fading too quickly. He knew it. He could feel it. No one else seemed to see it. Thankfully night had fallen while they drove and Whitney parked so that his headlights didn't illuminate the path that they were following.

Clark did struggle as they started stripping off his clothes. He couldn't let them see that the bruises were already gone. After a few seconds of writhing in their grip and shouting the bruises were real, this time accompanied by broken ribs that drop Clark to the ground. Clark curled around his stomach on the ground, trying not to breath blood from his broken nose. They stripped him to his boxers, laughing at his whimpers.

"There it is," one of the guys said.

"Perfect," Whitney said. His voice is a perfect mixture of sickened disgust and satisfaction. If Lionel had them bugged then it would probably make him smile in delight.

They grabbed Clark again and drug him over to the scarecrow. The battered old scarecrow was torn down and tossed carelessly aside. Clark panted, trying to whimper pleas to them. He couldn't manage it. He couldn't get enough breath to do it. His ribs were _really_ broken, far worse than he'd experienced in years. It was bad enough that they stayed broken long enough for him to get strung up on the cross. They snapped back into place as Whitney painted a "S" on his chest, making Whitney wince. His eyes went so wide that Clark thought he might throw up. Clark shuddered like they'd broken from his hanging by his arms.

"That's what you get for trying to get above yourself," Whitney said.

He tossed the paint can aside and stepped back. His expression held both shame and self-loathing. His buddies were laughing and clapping each other's backs. They didn't appear to feel any guilt for what they'd done but Clark didn't think they'd heard his ribs break. They headed through the cornstalks, disappearing into the darkness. Whitney stayed there the longest, only leaving Clark's side when the others called to him from the road.

Clark breathed a quiet sigh of relief once they drove away. His injuries healed as he hung there, quickly restoring him to normal. Clark raised his head once he was back to normal. He looked around to see if there was anyone else in the field. There wasn't. He was high enough above the stalks that he would have seen them coming. He craned his neck behind him, just barely able to spot the lights from town. At least he knew which way to go once he was down.

"Let's see, can I get loose?" Clark muttered.

He tugged at the ropes binding him but they didn't budge. Whitney's friends had done a really good job tying him up. There wasn't any slack. Clark kept fighting, earning rope burns that healed instantly and slightly sticky spots on the rope where he managed to tear his skin. It didn't loosen the ropes at all.

"Damn it," Clark panted, panic starting to creep in as he realized he was seriously stuck and couldn't get down without help. "Come on! Come loose!"

No matter how he struggled he couldn't get free. He wrenched his wrist hard but the cross supporting him was too sturdy and the ropes were too tight. Panic overwhelmed him and Clark screamed, fighting and kicking against the ropes with everything he had. They held. Clark sagged against the ropes, tears creeping down his cheeks.

"Shhh, it's okay, stay still."

"Lex!" Clark gasped and stared down into Lex's eyes. "How?"

"Doesn't matter," Lex said, quickly untying Clark.

"Your father," Clark panted as he sagged into Lex's arms with his feet still attached to the cross, "sent a message, coerced Whitney somehow. Made him do it. Shouldn't get above myself."

"I'm so sorry, Clark," Lex breathed, finally freeing Clark's feet. "I told you it was dangerous to be my friend."

"Don't care," Clark whispered, hugging Lex tight. He was warm and strong and there and he'd saved Clark. "Don't care."

"Come on," Lex said. He helped Clark to his feet as if he weighed nothing. "Let's get you home. My car is on the road. I'll drive you home and you can rest."

"Whitney…" Clark said, shivering in the cold of the night. He'd been too freaked out to feel how cold it was.

"I'll deal with Whitney," Lex promised as he wrapped his jacket around Clark's shoulders.

Lex drove Clark home in silence. They were actually only a mile or so from Clark's house. He'd been tied up on his parent's farm, in the far field. Whitney (or Lionel) had made sure that his parents would find him pretty quickly. Lex had to help Clark out of the car and into the house. Instead of getting better once he was in the car, Clark's shivers and coldness had gotten worse.

"What the hell?" Dad demanded as Lex escorted Clark into the house. "What happened?"

"Scarecrow," Clark mumbled, shaking too hard to care.

"Some of the other boys took Clark from school, beat him up and then tied him up like a scarecrow," Lex said. Clark looked at him because of the anger in his voice. "I happened to be driving by when they drove away and went to investigate."

"Oh baby," Mom breathed. She took Clark's arm and led him towards the bathroom. "Let's get you cleaned up and into bed."

"Thank you," Dad said to Lex as Mom led Clark up the stairs to the bathroom.

"You're welcome but I think that anyone would have done it," Lex said. "You might want to keep Clark closer to home for a little while. With tensions so high in town things are liable to be… unsettled for a bit."

"Yeah," Dad said. "That's a good word for it."

Clark looked back at them and caught the look that passed between Lex and Dad. Lex seemed to be saying that this wasn't just kids being kids. Dad nodded slowly with his hands clenched into fists. Mom pushed him into the bathroom and started the shower before Clark could see or hear anything else. He'd have to tell Mom and Dad about what Whitney had said about Lionel eventually but for now all he wanted was to be clean and warm and safe in his bed.

+++++

"I can't believe he did all of this," Lex muttered as he removed yet another bug from the mansion's walls. "This is absurd."

Three hundred twenty-seven and counting, Lex thought as he crushed the bug. The mansion's walls, ceiling and floor were full of holes that he'd poked to get at the bugs. Lex heard the front door open and scanned, smiling to see Clark's skeleton coming in. Lex wasn't sure when he'd learned exactly what Clark's skeleton looked like but he'd know it anywhere, under any circumstances.

"Over here," Lex called. "I let the staff go so it's just us."

"Whoa," Clark said as he peered around the corner towards Lex. "What happened?"

"I decided that I disliked being observed in my home," Lex said. He offered the broken bug to Clark. "It's taken awhile but I think I've gotten nearly all of them."

"Uh, how many?" Clark said. He took the bug with wide eyes. He stared at the five gallon bucket Lex was carrying with awe. It was mostly full.

"Nearly three hundred thirty. I'm still counting," Lex said. He chuckled at the way Clark's jaw dropped. "Shall we say that my father is rather intrusive?"

"I can think of some other words for it." Clark rolled his eyes before dropping the broken bug into the bucket.

Lex nodded agreement. They headed down the hallway to Lex's office. Clark pointed at one bug that Lex hadn't removed yet. His questioning expression made Lex laugh. Lex pulled on the wall panel, which came away completely. Inside was a complex monitoring computer attached to a little camera that barely poked through the panel. Lex had already cut the power and removed the recorded video. It no longer worked which was why he hadn't bothered to remove it yet.

"He wasn't kidding about this, was he?" Clark asked. His fingers twitched as if he wanted to take the device apart to see what made it tick.

"No he wasn't," Lex said. He pulled out the device, handed it to Clark who beamed. Lex gently patted the panel back into place. It might fall down again but for now the hallway looked okay other than the holes in the plaster. "He never has. How did you know that it was there?"

"Your behavior changed every time you got near one," Clark shrugged. "I was watching and kind of mapped them out in my head. What are you going to do about all the damaged places?"

He offered the device to Lex. Lex smiled and waved him off, gesturing for Clark to keep it. Clark lit up again like the sun had come out. His joy was almost as warming as the sun's rays. Lex's heart skipped a couple of beats. Every time they interacted Clark drew Lex closer. It was as though all his carefully cultivated avoidance techniques meant absolutely nothing to Clark. He'd never met anyone so easy to be around who was also so dangerously curious.

"Thank you!" Clark enthused. "I can really keep it? And you know, do stuff with it? Take it apart?"

"It's not mine," Lex smirked. "Feel free to do whatever you want with it. As for the damage to the mansion, I was going to hire a contractor to fix it. I need to do another sweep to make sure I got all of the bugs but I do want to restore the damage that Lionel inflicted on the place. I know now why the upstairs hallway creaks. There was another one of those devices installed in the floor. It weakened one of the trusses."

"He really is nuts," Clark sighed. He looked disgusted by the thought of someone damaging their house that way.

Clark stayed and chatted for a little while, leaving with two of the biggest monitoring devices to tinker with. Lex didn't ask what he was going to do with them. Clark didn't offer. Lex suspected that they'd be turned into something else entirely given the way Clark had been puzzling over how to open up the devices and take them apart. Lex considered it a relatively harmless thing for Clark to be doing compared to his investigations into Lionel's activities. Lex made a mental note to keep Clark supplied with relatively harmless things to do that would challenge his mind. He didn't want Clark to get into more trouble with Lionel. The scarecrow incident was quite enough.

Over the next week Lex hired three separate companies to come in and fix the damage done to the mansion. Every single one of them worked for a day or two before quitting. Lex wasn't sure what the problem was at first. He had been exceptionally polite to the workers and he was paying three times the going rate for the work. The third contractor was the only one willing to explain it.

"Look, you're going to have to fix it yourself," he said in such a low voice that Lex could barely hear him. "It's not safe to work for you."

"My father," Lex sighed.

"Yeah." The contractor made a face and shrugged as if he was sorry about it but he pulled all of his guys out and took all of their equipment with him.

Lex glared at the damage in the hallway, irritated at how petty Lionel could be. The news had already picked up the story of how Lex wasn't able to keep a contractor. Lex had no doubt as to where the leak's source had originated. This sort of petty warfare was one of his father's favorite low-level weapons against his enemies. The damage was being spun as being the result of Lex having a temper tantrum. According to the news, he wasn't able to keep the contractors on the site because he was so demanding and impossible as a boss. The latest gossip between the newscasters was that Lex wasn't going to be able to keep the plant because he was such a bad leader. Lex ignored that. He knew from the phrasing where they had gotten the gossip and he'd seen Lionel flirting with the blond reporter several times.

"Enough," Lex sighed.

Lex got in the one un-bugged car and drove over to the Kent farm. He hadn't had time to remove the bugs from his cars so he stuck to the one that he knew hadn't been lo-jacked and bugged to within an inch of its life. Eventually he'd restore the cars as well as the mansion. Fixing the damage the Lionel had done looked to become one of his biggest jobs in life.

Lex smiled as the Kent's yellow farmhouse appeared. The yellow felt as welcoming as the sun itself. He knew exactly why this place had become his haven, even if he could never admit it to anyone else. This was his heart's home, where he should belong. He might never actually belong there but perhaps in time he'd be allowed on less than a temporary basis. Jonathan was working on the tractor when Lex drove up. He nodded at Lex briefly before returning to his work. Lex took a deep breath and went over to him.

"Mr. Kent," Lex said as he tried to ignore the way his stomach fluttered, "I have a problem that I was hoping you could help with."

"Me?" Jonathan asked. He glowered at Lex suspiciously while wiping his hands off. "I thought you were here for Clark. That usually why you come over."

His look made it perfectly clear to Lex that he was aware of Lex's less than casual interest in Clark. It seemed quite obvious that he didn't approve of it but wasn't willing to say anything that would upset his son. Lex refused to allow himself to sigh at that. Jonathan was quite correct to oppose it. Clark was severely under age and Lex's history made it irresponsible for him to get involved with Clark even if he weren't jail bait.

"Yes," Lex agreed respectfully. "Not this time though. I'm sure you've seen the news reports on the damage to the mansion."

"We have," Jonathan said. He snorted at the reports and then chuckled. "They're making sound like you're a two-year-old. Clark's new little gifts show that it's anything but that. He's been having entirely too much fun with the electronics you gave him."

"Better some good use come out of them," Lex laughed. He sobered almost immediately, refusing to let his nervousness overwhelm him. "My problem is this: Lionel is threatening every contractor I hire so I can't get the damage to the mansion repaired. Do you know anyone local who would be willing to come in and fix the place? I know that he damaged the structure in several places and it seems a shame for the mansion to fall apart after all this time. It's ancient. I'm only its temporary custodian. It should be there for future generations."

Jonathan's expression changed to pleased surprise, as if he hadn't expected Lex to care about his opinion. Or maybe he was surprised that Lex actually cared about conserving things for later generations. Lex wasn't sure. Either way Jonathan straightened up and gave Lex a far more approving smile.

"I do know some locals who have a grudge against your father," Jonathan said. "I'm sure that once they know that he's chasing people off just to make you fail they'll be willing to help out. Heard from Clark that you fired your staff."

"I had to." Lex nodded. "Lionel hired them all and I wouldn't risk him attacking them to get at me."

"Smart," Jonathan said, nodding approval. "I'll have Martha put the word out. We should be able to get some local women to come in and do some cooking and cleaning for you. It won't be full time but it's just you there so I doubt that you'll need anyone full time."

"No, I really don't," Lex said. "I've been eating at the plant's cafeteria ever night. Breakfast is usually just coffee and a pastry of some sort. Dinners are all I would need unless there's a special occasion. I can't imagine that I'll have many parties for a while. Everything I have is going into getting the plant going."

"Come on," Jonathan said, gesturing towards the house. "Let's get to work on it."

Lex followed Jonathan into the house. Martha smiled to see him. Her smile was nearly as warming as Clark's. She gave him coffee and a slice of pie almost automatically as Jonathan explained to her what Lex needed. Martha huffed about the threats against the contractors. Clark came in as Lex took his first bite of pie.

"We're having a snack?" Clark asked. He grinned hopefully at Martha.

"Lex is having a snack," Martha said. "You can have a small slice if you want but nothing more than that, sweetie. I won't have you ruining your appetite for dinner."

"Have I ever ruined my appetite?" Clark asked as if he couldn't conceive of such a thing.

"He is a teenager," Jonathan chuckled. He ducked away from the pointed look Martha leveled at him, still chuckling.

"How come Lex gets a big slice?" Clark pouted as Martha passed Clark his much slimmer piece of pie.

"I suspect that she thinks I need fattening up," Lex told Clark.

"You do!" Martha agreed with a bright, mischievous grin.

They laughed. Lex ducked his head to hide his grin. By the time he'd finished his pie Martha was on her cell phone to her friends finding people who could come in and clean the mansion once a week. She'd already found someone who would come in and cook him dinners ever night. Jonathan was on the house phone calling his friends to find people who would be willing to thumb their noses at Lionel by fixing the damage to the mansion. Clark grinned as he listened.

"They're all people whose kids were taken away," Clark confided after a few minutes. "They all have reasons to hate Lionel and respect you for trying to win your freedom. It'll work out. I know Lionel will try and threaten them, buy them off, but he's going to have a hard time of it. None of the people they're calling have any respect for Lionel."

"Will they have problems with me?" Lex asked. He didn't want to cause problems with these people if he could help it. They had been through enough already.

"They… might," Clark said slowly. "I don't think so. Mom and Dad know pretty much everyone. The people they're calling are the ones who tried to protect and save their kids. They're the ones who have the old values. They might be a little leery of you at first but I don't think that it will last. You're a good person, Lex. They'll see it."

Lex opened his mouth to object to that assessment but nothing came out. Clark's eyes held nothing but complete faith in him. Lex ducked his head again, studying the last dregs of his cup of coffee. It had been a very long time since anyone had faith in him. Lex thought about it and realized that the last person to look at him that way was his mother Lara when she said goodbye. He swallowed the last of his coffee to clear the lump out of his throat.

"Thank you, Clark," Lex said. He was pleased that his voice didn't shake. "I appreciate that."

"You're welcome," Clark said, smiling that bone-melting smile.

+++++

"Hey Clark!" Chloe knocked on the door to Clark's loft before opening the door. She was used to his habit of responding only after a few seconds had passed. She figured that he was thinking so hard that he didn't hear people until their words soaked in.

"Hey Chlo," Clark said absently after seventeen seconds. "What's up?"

He was busily adjusting the photos and articles on his Wall. Chloe was still unsure that showing Clark her Wall of Weird had been a good idea. Sure, she found it really useful for figuring out connections between things and it was really good for jogging her memory when she was working on a story but Clark took it to extremes.

The entire wall and as far up the slanted ceiling as he could reach was covered with articles, pictures and notes on Lex Luthor. It was kind of creepy. The stuff higher up was older stuff that she'd seen many times. She'd given him some of those articles and photos. The stuff on the main wall was newer. She hadn't seen most of it.

"You're getting a little creepy, Clark," Chloe said in a singsong voice.

"I am not," Clark protested. He leveled the kicked puppy look at her, pouting for all he was worth.

"You so are," Chloe said as she refused to succumb to the look. "I mean, seriously. Look at this. You've turned into a stalker. Don't you think you should just admit to Lex that you like him? This seems a bit over the top for expressing your deep and abiding love for him."

"Chloe!"

Clark squawked and went beet red. She grinned at him as he shuffled his feet and looked anywhere but her eyes. He was so smitten, even if he wouldn't admit it. She dropped her bag on the couch and went over to slug him lightly in the arm. He sighed, turning the wattage up on the kicked puppy look.

"It's not about Lex," Clark protested. He waved at the Wall as if that would explain it.

"Clark, I hate to break it to you but almost every single thing I see up there relates to Lex," Chloe said. She skimmed over the new stuff. She nodded slowly. It was all Lex.

"Sure, it _relates_ to Lex," Clark said, "but it's not _about_ Lex."

Chloe raised an eyebrow at him. Clark groaned and pulled her over to the far left side of the Wall. He pointed to the first article, one about Lex's birth and how Metropolis had celebrated Lionel Luthor's heir's birth.

"See," Clark explained as he slowly led her through the trail of articles and pictures, "Lex Luthor was born in 1980. When the meteor shower hit in 1989 he was nine years old. He had bright red hair. Now after the meteor shower he was bald but his eyebrows had changed color. They're darker than they used to be. He also seemed a little bit older than the previous picture, like six months older instead of just two. His face was slightly different as well. See here? This is the comparison I did between Lex before the meteors and after."

"That is a little weird," Chloe agreed. She could see the difference now that Clark pointed it out. "It's still all about Lex."

"No it isn't," Clark insisted. "That's not Lex, not the real Lex anyway. He's someone else's kid conscripted to pretend to be Lex Luthor."

Chloe cocked her head at Clark, wondering if he'd gone over the edge. He huffed at her expression before walking her though his pet theory step by step. By the end she had to admit that he might be onto something but every single thing that he had was second hand conjecture. Chloe shook her head at the end to cut Clark off.

"Look, it's a fascinating theory," Chloe said. "Seriously, the thought that Lionel might have forced someone else to play Lex so that no one would know that his son died in the meteor shower is really interesting but you're not answering the most important question."

"What's that?" Clark asked. He blinked at her in confusion.

"Why?" Chloe said. "Why would he do that? There's no point. Why would he hide that his son died? He'd get a heck of a lot more sympathy if he admitted it than anything else. Not to mention that Lex is no prize as a son. He's okay personally but he conflicts really badly with Lionel, Clark. Everything here could be interpreted in other ways. Maybe Lex is a mutant. Maybe he looks a little different because of what happened to him. Maybe he was injured during the meteor shower. You say over here that he wasn't seen for two months. That's long enough for facial reconstructive surgery to heal up, you know."

Clark pouted as he leaned against the back of his couch. Chloe laughed quietly. He so had a lot to learn about investigative reporting. He sighed after a second and ran his fingers through his hair. He waved a hand aimlessly at the Wall while his mouth worked without anything coming out.

"I think I'm right," Clark said finally.

"You can think you're right all you want, Clark," Chloe said. She came over and bumped her shoulder against his. "Without proof you're no different than any conspiracy nut that thinks the moon landing was faked or that aliens have been coming to Earth for centuries."

"Ow," Clark said. His bottom lip pouted as the kicked puppy look returned.

"Stop that," Chloe huffed. She whacked his shoulder again. "It doesn't work. I'm immune so just quit it."

The pout intensified but Clark's eyes were sparkling with amusement. Chloe turned her face away and crossed her arms on her chest. Clark sighed like he was a leaky tire and leaned against her shoulder. Chloe snorted and bumped him. She peeked sideways at him and burst out laughing at the absurdly exaggerated puppy look on his face. Clark started laughing too. They laughed for a while, ending up shoulder to shoulder looking at Clark's Wall.

"It's still all about Lex and no splitting hairs," Chloe said.

"It's about why Lionel would do that," Clark disagreed. "It's about what happened to the real Lex. It's about why Lionel does the things he does."

"Which is of course why Lionel's picture covers your wall," Chloe snarked. The dozens of pictures of Lex looked back at them.

Clark groaned, letting his chin drop to his chest. After a moment he raised his face and looked at the wall. His cheeks got red. Then it spread across his entire face. When his ears started glowing Chloe laughed out loud, grinning at him.

"Um, maybe you're right?" Clark said in his most sheepish tone of voice.

"Yeah, I think so," Chloe said with a huge grin. "You might want to tone it down a bit, you know. Lex does come over here from time to time and your parents might freak about you going all uber-stalker on Lex."

"I have a screen that I put over it," Clark said. He waved a hand at some folding screens against the far wall. "It's got other investigations on the front. I didn't want to freak Dad out."

They both stiffened as footsteps sounded on the stairs. Clark gave Chloe a desperate look and she dove with him for the screens. By the time a knock sounded on the door they'd managed to cover the Wall of Lex with a series of new investigations about mutation rates among the rats in town.

"Oh," Chloe breathed. "This is good!"

"Come in!" Clark called. He rolled his eyes at her as she read over the information he'd gathered on the glowing giant rats.

"I didn't realize you had a guest," Lex said.

"Hey Lex," Chloe said absently. "They're really growing by 57% per year?"

"Yup, we'll have R.O.U.S.'s in about five years," Clark said.

"Rodents of Unusual Size?" Lex asked. He sounded highly amused as he joined them in front of the boards. "Seriously?"

Clark nodded, fidgeting nervously as Lex studied the information. Chloe glared at him behind Lex's back. He was telegraphing that there was something to worry about behind the information boards. He blushed and shrugged sheepishly. Chloe rolled her eyes. Only Clark could be so oblivious to his feelings that he'd create a monument to a man without knowing he'd done it.

"This could be trouble," Lex commented as he studied a chart showing the rate of small pet death in the rodent-infected area.

"I think it will be," Clark said to Lex. "I'm just not sure what to do about it. The rats are really hard to kill, resistant to poison and too smart for most traps."

"What you do is gather all this up and write an article for the Torch on it," Chloe said. "This is good stuff. The people deserve to know about it."

Clark made a face like Chloe had just stabbed him. Lex chuckled and cocked his head as he stared at the wall. His expression slowly slid into a concerned frown. Chloe wasn't sure what he was so concerned about. There was nothing there that was too obnoxious.

"The principle doesn't let you publish stuff like that in the Torch," Clark protested, distracting Chloe from Lex's growing anger.

"He's one of the people you talked to about the rats," Chloe said with a thumb pointed at the interview the principle gave Clark. "He might just go for this article. It doesn't hurt to try."

Lex pulled one of the boards forward so that he could look behind it. Clark gasped and then groaned. Chloe just sighed, whacking his elbow with the back of her hand. Lex turned around with an expression of total offense. Chloe couldn't blame him. Clark was stalking him after all.

"He didn't think it was all about you," Chloe said and rolled her eyes.

"Well it isn't," Clark protested so weakly that he winced before Chloe could glare.

"Clark, we've discussed this," Lex said in such excessively precise diction that Chloe took a step back. "It's not safe for you to investigate me. My father's already had you attacked once. He's tried to destroy the town's livelihood and foreclose on your family's farm. He had you turned into the Scarecrow! You need to stop this."

"Wait, what?" Chloe gasped.

She stared at Clark who just shrugged and waved her horror off. She'd known that Clark had stayed home from school for a few days after Homecoming but he'd never said anything about having been attacked. Chloe would have made sure that those stupid jocks paid for it if she'd know. And she knew that she could have gotten Lana to help. Lana was popular enough that even Whitney listened to her, God help him.

"I know that," Clark said to Lex. "And I told you that I can't do that. I need to understand why Lionel does this stuff. All of this is more about Lionel's actions than it is about you."

"Despite Lex's picture being the one plastered all over the wall," Chloe snarked. They both ignored her completely.

"That's why you have to stop," Lex insisted. "If this was all about me I wouldn't be half as upset. I've had people obsess about me before. It's not pretty and it's not flattering but it happens when you're rich and distinctive. Lionel doesn't _let_ people learn things about him Clark. There are always consequences for putting together the pieces of his life. You're endangering everyone and everything you care about!"

"He has to be stopped!" Clark shouted. He flailed his hands at Lex as if he couldn't understand why Lex was trying to make him stop. "The only way he'll ever be stopped is if people find out what he's done. Someone needs to take a stand against him. It has to happen or he'll never stop. More and more people will be destroyed, killed, just to serve Lionel's ambitions!"

"Uh guys," Chloe said, trying to step between them. "Calm down. You're friends. There's no need to yell."

"I'm not yelling!" Clark yelled.

"I am calm!" Lex snarled.

"Oh-_kay,"_ Chloe said, easing back. "I'll just go over here in the corner and be quiet while you out-calm and not-yell each other."

She eased away from them as they continued to glare at each other. Chloe had to wonder if they realized how much of the tension between the two of them was sexual. She could see how much Clark cared about Lex. Lex obviously cared just as much about Clark or he wouldn't be so determined to protect Clark from himself.

"You have to stop investigating this," Lex declared after a long, tension-filled moment of silence.

"I can't," Clark said. He enunciated his words just as precisely as Lex had earlier. "Don't you get it, I can't! Someone needs to stop Lionel."

"That someone doesn't have to be you," Lex snapped.

"Who else?" Clark asked, flinging his arms wide.

Lex reacted like Clark had slapped him. Chloe sighed. Clark truly didn't think before he said things sometimes. Lex's face went cold so quickly that it was like he'd slapped a mask over it. He tugged his jacket down and smoothed it but the way his nostrils flared and his lips compressed showed his fury.

"Stop," Lex ordered.

"No." Clark raised his chin and glared at Lex.

They glared at each other for a moment that stretched to the point it snapped. Lex opened his mouth to say something scathing but snapped it shut instead. He stomped out of the loft and down the stairs. His car sprayed gravel as he peeled out. Clark glared at the wall where Lex had been standing, breathing hard. After Chloe couldn't hear Lex's car anymore he sighed, his shoulders slumping.

"Sit down," Chloe said. She guided him to the couch and sat next to him.

Clark flopped on the couch and put his head in his hands. She rubbed his back for a long time. While she did it she looked at the bit of Lex's Wall that had been revealed. The comparison picture between Lex before the meteor shower and after it looked back at her. Both of them seemed sad and frightened.

"I've lost my best friend," Clark whispered.

"Clark, he's just worried about you," Chloe said. "I'm worried about you too. He's right. Lionel destroys everyone that gets too close to his secrets. You're not immune. He will come after you too and the fact that you're not a mutant won't save you."

"Someone has to stop him," Clark whispered. He looked at her with anguished eyes. "Someone has to stop him from torturing Lex any more."

"Oh Clark…."

Chloe pulled him into a hug, cradling him as if she could protect him from the world, Lionel and his own driving curiosity.

+++++

"Where is he?"

Jonathan's bellow woke Lex out of his slumber. Lex rubbed the sleep from his eyes, staring at the door to his bedroom where Jonathan stood glaring down at him. He had never seen Jonathan this angry before even during some of the rants that he'd witnessed. Of course, Lex hadn't been over to the farm since his argument with Clark so who knew what had gotten him riled up this time.

"Who?" Lex asked.

"Clark," Jonathan snapped. "I know he's here, Lex. Where are you hiding my son?"

"Clark's not here," Lex said as his blood turned to ice in his veins.

"Don't give me that," Jonathan snarled. "Where else would he be?"

Lex's mouth opened but he couldn't make the sounds come out. Jonathan stared. His shoulders dropped from their aggressive hunch into shocked slackness as his jaw fell open. Jonathan mouthed the word 'no' as he went so pale that Lex was afraid he'd pass out. Jonathan stared wildly around the room, his eyes flying everywhere but Lex's face.

"What happened?" Lex demanded. He threw back the covers and grabbed his robe. "Jonathan! What happened? You need to tell me or… there's not much time. How long has he been gone?"

"He… he never made it home after school," Jonathan said. His voice and expression were as hollow as if his heart and soul had been ripped out. "I thought that he must have gone to visit Chloe or Pete or come over here but when he wasn't home by midnight I called them. He wasn't there. They saw him walking home. Chloe said that he was moping, thinking about something. I assumed he came here."

"I haven't seen Clark since the other day when we argued," Lex said. He propelled Jonathan towards the stairs, leading the older man to his office and the computer there. "Something must have happened."

The clock rang fifteen after midnight as they entered the study. The fire that Lex always kept going in the study had burned low so Lex added more fuel to the fire. It flared up, sending crimson light over the room. Instead of being a comforting reminder of Krypton it made Lex think of hellish torments. Jonathan collapsed onto the couch. He muttered prayers that Lex shouldn't have been able to hear but did because of his super hearing.

"When does school let out?" Lex asked. Jonathan sat staring into space unresponsive. "Jonathan! When did he leave school?"

"What? Oh, he left school at about 5:30," Jonathan said. He shook himself before standing and coming behind the desk to watch Lex work. "There was a Science Club meeting and he was working on some glowing rat article with Chloe."

"Good, then they haven't had him for too long," Lex said. He logged into his computer and started searching the LuthorCorp databases. "It takes about two hours to drive to Metropolis and I know that they've shut everything… inappropriate down here. That would put him there about 7:30 to 8:00 pm. It takes a good hour to log someone into the system and clear them for… for those areas of the company."

Jonathan looked at Lex as though he were the sort of scum you found under the barrel when cleaning up. Lex didn't let it bother him. He was too busy trying to control his nausea at the thought of Lionel experimenting on Clark. His ability to come back to life would make him the perfect test subject and…

Lex couldn't continue the thought. He'd been through so many horrible experiments when his father's anger had overwhelmed his common sense. He couldn't imagine Clark going through them if he wanted to keep from throwing up on his laptop.

"You know what they do," Jonathan growled.

"I've been logged in," Lex said. His fingers were shaking hard enough that it was hard to type. "Several times. Father isn't… his lessons in disobedience have been severe sometimes. I know better than you think what Clark might be facing."

"Oh good God." Jonathan put a hand to his mouth as if he was trying not to throw up.

"It takes an hour to log someone in," Lex continued grimly. "They'd handle him differently since he's… normal. They'd run a series of biometric tests on him, establishing a baseline before they did any experiments. Basic blood pressure, endurance, EEG, things like that. That would take anywhere from one to two hours, depending on how well he cooperates. Given that it's Clark, I think we can assume that he wouldn't cooperate, which means it would be about two hours. That puts the time at 10:00 pm."

Lex kept searching to determine which facility had just added a new 'employee'. His father was quite creative about how he hid his experiments but his flunkies had patterns that Lex had learned to recognize years ago. The most common way of hiding a new experimental subject was to add a temporary employee to the company roster. They also sometimes hid kidnapped kids as shipments of 'test animals' or experimental equipment.

"Then they've already…" Jonathan's voice shook too hard for him to continue.

"I doubt it," Lex said, smiling triumphantly as he located a new employee who'd been added to the system at just the right time. "Lionel would want Clark to learn his lesson before he was… dealt with. He'd be threatened and intimidated before they did anything to him. Also, it's night shift. The night shift crews tend to be much lazier as they know that Lionel isn't likely to appear out of the blue. Father's too busy socializing to put in appearances at the various sites. They'll take their time at it instead of rushing through things. He's probably only just hit the point where he's in danger. If you had waited until morning it would have been too late but I think we can save him."

"He's in Metropolis?" Jonathan asked. He didn't seem to understand the information displayed on Lex's computer.

"Yes," Lex said. He shut down his computer and stood. "I know where he is. You need to go home and report Clark as missing, Jonathan. It might not do any good legally with the 48-hour delay on reporting missing persons but you have to try. They'll probably resist taking the report but don't let them put you off. There should be a record of his disappearance. It might be helpful later to bring the government down on Lionel. I think I can get him back but I have to hurry. If I'm going to make it in time I need to go right away."

Jonathan nodded. He didn't look at all hopeful but he did head for the door. Lex followed him, intending to fly straight there once Jonathan was out of sight. It was a blessing in disguise that he'd fired the staff. There was no one here to see him take off anymore. He hadn't even bothered to get a night guard. The only person who could hurt him was Lionel so why bother?

"Ah, you might want to change your clothes before you go," Jonathan said, eying Lex's night pants, slipper and robe. He chuckled despite the situation. "I doubt that they'd take you seriously dressed in Warrior Angel pants."

"Oh." Lex blushed. "I forgot about that. Go on. I'll change before I go. I swear I'll do my best to save him, Jonathan."

"Please," Jonathan begged uncomfortably. "Clark's… he's all we've got. It would kill Martha to lose him."

"I know." Lex nodded.

Jonathan ran down the stairs and out to his truck. Lex waited just long enough for Jonathan to start the truck before speeding upstairs and changing clothes. Before Jonathan had left the driveway Lex was in the air headed towards Metropolis. Lex knew which building Clark had to be in. He knew which floor, Lionel's special 33.1 laboratory. He just didn't know if he could get in to save Clark before something happened to reveal his powers to Lionel.

"Hold on Clark," Lex whispered as he landed at the base of the skyscraper that hid Lionel's secret lab. "I'm coming."

Lex tried to project confidence as he strode to the security checkpoint but his worry for Clark combined with flashbacks of the other times he'd been brought here to make him entirely too nervous. Lex fought to control his breathing. He would not fail. He would not let Lionel find out about Clark's abilities. He would not let Clark be destroyed.

'I have to convince Lionel that the lesson's been learned,' Lex thought as the guards snapped to attention and checked him for weapons. 'It's the only way that I'll ever get Clark out of here alive.'

+++++

Clark panted and tested the grip of the burly guards holding his arms as they pushed him from the lab to an office of some sort. The instant he twitched their fingers dug in to his flesh, making him flinch. They were way too alert for him to get away. He set his jaw. He was going to get away eventually. It didn't matter what they did to him, he was going to get away and he'd bring the whole world crashing in on Lionel's little horror show.

He'd been literally grabbed from the side of the street, bound with zip ties, gagged and then driven to what had to be Metropolis from the length of the drive. The men who'd taken him were far too efficient at this. They had to have kidnapped many other people, not just mutants from Smallville.

Once they had arrived in Metropolis Clark had been hustled out of the van. He'd struggled for all he was worth but they did a very good job making sure that he didn't hurt himself or them while they kept him from escaping. The zip ties were efficiently replaced with handcuffs that were much more secure but just as uncomfortable.

They left the gag in as if they knew that he'd bite at the first opportunity. He growled at them while they held him down for a technician to take blood samples and check his blood pressure. They'd strapped some sort of device onto his head and gotten readings from that. They'd tried to put him on a treadmill but he'd fought so hard against that they gave up and just strapped a heart monitor on him. He kind of freaked when the guards held him still so that the technician could attach a hose to his gag but all that happened was some measurements of how hard he was breathing.

Eventually, after a couple of hours of futile battles against their control and what seemed to Clark to be pointless tests they shoved him into a wheelchair, locked his arms and legs into place, attached his head to a backer board thing and then removed the gag.

"Name," the technician asked in a bored, tired voice. He looked like he'd rather be anywhere but where he was, preferably sleeping.

"Let me go!" Clark shouted the instant the gag was removed. "You have no right to do this."

"Teach him to be polite," the technician sighed.

The guards did something that made Clark scream with agony. It felt like they'd attached him to a live wire. The pain stopped after what felt like forever but was actually just a few seconds. Clark sobbed, trying to breathe through the pain and shock.

"Name," the technician repeated.

"Why are you doing this to me?" Clark asked even though he suspected what the response would be.

The technician gestured and the guard hit the pain button again. At least Clark thought it was a button. He didn't know. Speculating about how they were making him scream and twitch and cry helped him deal with the actual pain.

"Look kid, we can keep this up way longer than you can," the technician said in that same bored voice. "The record so far is seven times. The person who earned seven shocks was never quite the same. Don't keep this up. You're not stupid. Now what's your name?"

Clark panted, drawing it out as long as he could before opening his eyes and glaring at the technician. The tech wasn't impressed. It showed. The guards behind Clark snickered, quietly exchanging bets on whether or not Clark would cooperate. Clark read the technician's badge and opened his mouth just as the technician raised his hand.

"Barry," Clark said. His voice sounded weird from the screaming. "Barry Fordman."

Barry the tech groaned and signaled the guards again. The pain went on a lot longer this time, long enough that Clark's voice gave out. He nearly lost bladder and bowel control it hurt so bad. Clark focused on the last math problem Lex had given him, losing himself in the numbers for as long as he could. The math didn't help him deal with the pain for long enough. By the end he was sobbing and only the straps were holding him up.

"Kid, we know who you were," Barry said almost gently. "Just give up. You're only going to cause yourself more pain. This can go a lot easier if you cooperate."

"Going to kill me anyway," Clark whispered eventually. "Already know that. Why cooperate when I know I'm going to die no matter what I do?"

"Shit, he's not supposed to know that," one of the guards snapped. "Who squealed?"

"Doesn't matter," Barry said. "You're not on the kill roster, kid. You're not even on the experimentation roster. Big Daddy Luthor just wants you to learn a lesson, be damned if I know why. So if you cooperate, play nice, answer our questions and look appropriately cowed you'll live. You don't, you die. It's simple."

Clark laughed. He couldn't help it. No one ever came back from Lionel's labs. He knew that. He knew that better than they did apparently. He shook his head as much as he could inside of the head restraint, smiling sadly at the technician. Barry the tech finally got an expression different from his bored one as he shivered and looked a little frightened of Clark.

"Lionel won't let me go," Clark whispered. "I know too much. I might not be on your roster but he won't let me go. I'll be in one of those mass graves or in your labs being mutated before morning. I know. Don't you get it? I _know._ I know what he's doing here. I know what he's done to Lex. I know what he's done with the others. He'll never let me go."

Barry the tech pulled back into his chair. His eyes went so wide and he went so pale that he looked like he'd seen a ghost. The guards scuffled their feet like they'd backed away from Clark too. Barry got up and headed behind Clark, whispering something urgently to the guards. They left him alone for nearly forty-five minutes, still strapped into the torture wheelchair.

Clark struggled against the bands strapping him to the chair but he couldn't get free. They were too wide and too tight for him to be able to squirm free. They were too strong for him to break. He thought that the frame of the chair was made of titanium or something similar. It was far too strong for a normal chair. He thought that Lex could probably break free but he couldn't. He wasn't strong enough.

"I hear that you're being difficult," another voice said. It appeared to be coming from the PA.

"You have no right to do this to me," Clark said. His voice was a lot better since he'd gotten time to recuperate.

"Perhaps not but there's nothing that you can do about it," the voice said. The distortion from the PA made it hard for Clark to determine if it was a man or a woman but he thought that it was a man. "You can make this a great deal easier on yourself if you cooperate."

"Forget it," Clark declared. "I will never cooperate with you. What you're doing is wrong. It needs to be stopped."

There was a burst of static that sounded a little like a muffled 'idiot kid' but it could have just been an extra forceful sigh into the microphone. It was impossible to tell. The voice didn't say anything else. Clark sat in the chair for long enough that he started getting twitchy. Sitting still was harder than it seemed. His entire body ached and his muscles were starting to twitch by the time a guard came in and grabbed the wheelchair from behind.

"Where are you taking me?" Clark demanded.

The guard didn't answer. He was wheeled down a long, bland white hallway. Clark could just barely hear the sounds of muffled screaming behind the doors that they passed. At one point he jumped at what sounded like a gunshot behind a set of big double doors. The guard pushed Clark through another set of double doors at the far end of the hallway, snorting with amusement at Clark's indigent squawk that the man had banged his toes into the doors to open them.

The room inside could have been taken from any of Clark's nightmares of what happened to the kidnapped mutants. There were huge tubes full of green fluid along one wall. Each tube had a person in it. They jerked and kicked. One of the people was so small that it looked like a three-year-old child with long curly hair. Clark whimpered at the way the little girl struggled. He couldn't turn his head enough to keep watching her as he was wheeled to the far end of the line of tubes. The one the guard stopped in front of was empty, without even the green fluid.

"No!" Clark shouted. He started struggling against the straps again.

A young man in the tube next to Clark's opened his eyes. He was between Clark and Lex's age, with dark hair and a wiry but muscular body. He was the only one not struggling. Clark assumed that he'd given up but when the man opened his eyes, he glared at Clark as if he was interrupting something significant.

"Kid, cut it out," the guard snarled. "I will zap you."

"No! I won't let you do this to me!" Clark shouted.

The pain seemed to be several notches higher this time. The world disappeared in a wave of white-hot agony that removed Clark's ability to do anything but endure. He couldn't tell if he was screaming or convulsing. He couldn't tell if his heart was beating or not. He couldn't feel anything but the incredible pain that filled him up and ripped his mind to shreds.

When the pain stopped Clark collapsed into blackness. He could hear people talking and moving around him but it was so distant that they made no sense. He was dimly aware of his heartbeat pounding in his ears so he obviously hadn't died. His throat felt like he'd been gargling with razors and broken glass so Clark thought he must have screamed really hard. Eventually sounds started making sense again.

"I'm surprised he took that high of a dose without a heart attack," a young man's voice said. "Rather impressive for a norm."

"Yes sir," Barry the tech's voice said. He sounded very impressed and very, very frightened. "Um, he claims to know all about you and the others."

"I seriously doubt that," the young man said. "That bit of information has never been leaked. No, he's probably talking about the experiments. Doesn't matter. These subjects have been drained so they can be eliminated. This one shows no signs of any mutations though he's obviously been meteor affected. It must be latent. I need to shower. Take him to see Father."

Clark barely managed to open his eyes as they wheeled him away. The young man was out of the tank, wrapped in a towel that was marked with green stains. He saw Clark's gaze and smiled the nastiest smile he'd ever seen. He waved goodbye sardonically before walking in the other direction. Clark noted the 'Father' comment in the back of his mind while wondering who that would be and who the young man was.

They wheeled him into an elevator, one guard on either side of him. Barry the tech worked the buttons, sending them up to the top floor. Floor fifty-seven, Clark noted. They'd been on floor 33. He wondered why there were two floor 33 buttons, one that said simply 33 and a second one that said 33.1. Once they arrived at the 57th floor they wheeled Clark out and into another check station complete with guards who carried automatic weapons that looked more advanced that a Sci-Fi movie.

Barry the tech answered all the questions for Clark. Clark didn't protest. He didn't fight. It still hurt too much. Between being restrained and the last dose of whatever pain device they'd hooked him up to he felt like he'd been beaten bloody, electrocuted and killed several times over. He'd had deaths that were less painful than this.

It took about twenty-five minutes for all the questions to be answered and clearance to be given. Clark sort of dozed in his chair, too tired to care. He tried to listen, occasionally opening his eyes to watch them. The longer it took the better he felt, though he still felt like he'd been run over. Finally they started moving and Clark paid attention again.

They pushed him past the check station and down a long, beautifully decorated hallway to another elevator. This one was covered in wood paneling with elaborate carvings on it. Inside the elevator it was just as luxurious. Clark shivered, shifting his hands a little as he tested the straps holding him down. They were just as solid as before.

Barry the tech sent them up to the 98th floor this time, three floors shy of the top. He watched the floor numbers as they counted up. He was twitching worse than Clark by the time the elevator dinged and they arrived. Barry swallowed convulsively before leading the way out of the elevator. The guard on Clark's left was visibly shaking. Clark could feel the guard pushing his wheelchair shaking. His hands on the handles of the wheelchair vibrated enough for Clark to notice it.

"He's been delayed," a very stern woman said once they arrived at the end of another long, luxurious hallway. "Take him inside and then go back to work. We'll deal with him from here."

"Yes ma'am," Barry the tech said.

They pushed him into an office room, arranging Clark's chair so that he was facing a huge desk that had almost as much acreage as a king-size bed. Clark could see Metropolis through the window. Barry and the guards fled as soon as Clark was situated. The very stern woman shut the door, leaving Clark alone again.

Clark still couldn't turn his head so he looked at the city and wondered what would happen next. He thought that this must be Lionel's office but he'd never heard of Lionel having more than one son. Maybe the young man had called Lionel 'father' as a sort of title? Clark didn't think so. It sounded entirely too much like when Clark called his dad 'Dad'. Or maybe this wasn't actually Lionel's office and Clark had been taken to see someone else?

The longer Clark sat there waiting the twitchier he got. He also felt better and better as the minutes passed, until he almost felt like himself again other than the increasing discomfort of being restrained. Clark could see how being tied up like this was a torture. His shoulders felt like they were on fire when the door finally opened.

"Well, I won't say that it's nice to see you again, Clark," Lionel drawled as he sauntered in. "But I will say that I'm not surprised that we've come to this point."

"Let me go," Clark demanded, glaring at him as best he could when Lionel was still off to the right and Clark's head was strapped so that he couldn't turn it.

"I don't think so," Lionel said, smirking. "You don't take warnings very seriously Clark. I've tried to respect Alexander's fondness for you by only directing my warnings at you personally but we've reached a point where either you back off or everyone you care about pays the price."

Clark snorted to hide the way that oily threat made his heart clench. He knew Lionel would do it. He probably had already started attacking Chloe and Pete and Mom and Dad. He probably went after Lana and Whitney and everyone at school. For all Clark knew Lionel had gone after the other people in the science club and the teachers for Clark's classes.

"You're not going to let me go," Clark said. "Don't even try and pretend. I know that you won't."

"I wouldn't if it was up to me," Lionel agreed. He went around the desk and sat in the big leather chair, still smirking at Clark. "I'd have you downstairs in one of the testing labs. I would love to know if that brain of yours was produced by meteor exposure or if it's simply natural. I'd very much like to know if Lex actually hit you or not. I didn't get a chance to see his car before it was crushed. I'm quite… curious as to why he didn't repair it instead of destroying it."

Clark hoped that his general twitches and struggles against the bonds hid his start of terror that Lionel suspected the truth. He jerked hard against the straps while glaring harder at Lionel. They didn't budge and the futileness of his struggles made Lionel grin.

"You'd have to ask Lex about that," Clark said. "I don't know. I wanted to see it too."

"Did you now?" Lionel asked. His eyes went narrow as his face slid into an expression that seemed incredibly dangerous and threatening.

"Yes," Clark said, stilling as much as he could. "He should have broken his neck in that accident. He should be dead. He shouldn't have survived the impact, much less going into the river. He's not normal, is he? Where did you find him, Lionel? What happened to your real son?"

Lionel's face went ice-cold. He reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a handgun. Lionel strode around the desk to set the gun against Clark's forehead. Clark gasped but kept glaring. He wasn't going to give. This needed to stop or Lex would never be free. Lionel was going to figure out what Clark was eventually. That was inevitable. It wasn't like getting shot would actually kill him.

"You know some very dangerous things, Clark Kent," Lionel said in a voice that sounded like razor-sharp shards of ice.

"I can't believe you'd throw your own son into a pit and leave him there," Clark snapped. "What kind of father just leaves his son for the animals to eat?"

"You have no idea what you're meddling in," Lionel snarled.

"Don't I?" Clark asked. "I'm not an idiot. I can see the clues and put them together, Lionel. I won't let you get away with this any longer!"

Lionel's finger tightened on the trigger. Clark flinched and held his breath, convinced that this was it. He was going to be revealed and experimented on. It didn't matter. He had to do something and if he was dead they were probably going to take him out of the chair. Once he came back to life he'd have the chance to escape and bring the law down on Lionel.

"Father!" Lex's voice startled both Clark and Lex.

Lionel turned and glared at Lex. Clark tried to turn his head but he couldn't move enough to see Lex clearly. Lionel snorted as Lex strode over, pulling the gun away from Clark's face. His meteor rock ring started glowing as soon as Lex got in range.

"This has gone on long enough Father," Lex said as he released Clark's head from the straps. "You can't keep doing this."

"On the contrary," Lionel said. "I can and I will. Your little friend has learned too much. We need to have a discussion about keeping secrets."

Lex went very pale, far paler than the ring justified. Despite that he released Clark's hands, making Clark sigh in relief that he could move again. Clark rubbed his wrists and glared at Lionel. Lionel smirked at Lex kneeling at Clark's feet to release those straps. Clark huffed.

"It wasn't Lex," Clark said. "I'd figured most of it out before Lex ever came to Smallville. Everything that I learned was in the public sector, newspapers and the like. Lex didn't screw up, Lionel. You did. You're the one who let the secrets out, not him."

Lex glared at Clark as he released the last strap. His expression seemed to say 'shut up and stop antagonizing him'. Clark ignored it. He wasn't ever going to stop, no matter what the consequences. Lex needed to see that people would defend him and that things could change. It wasn't easy but it could be done.

"You little brat!" Lionel snarled. "You have no idea what you're talking about!"

"Oh yes I do!" Clark snapped. He stood, swayed as his legs tried to give out underneath him and then stepped in front of Lex so that he was between Lex and Lionel. "Your son died in the meteor shower. You found Lex at that time. You saw how special he was and decided that you'd pretend that he was your son. You beat him up, threatened him, and generally abused him to the point that he doesn't believe that he can ever be free. Every single time he made a friend you eliminated them. Every person that could possibly help him win his freedom was destroyed. You've taken hundreds of meteor mutants and used them in your experiments to try and create some sort of army. Every single person you've ever taken is dead. You're a slimy, disgusting worm of a man who probably thinks that he's going to rule the world with the power you've stolen from Lex. Well, it's not going to happen. I won't let it happen. There are other people out there who know, who won't let it happen either. You're doomed and you don't even know it yet!"

Lionel's eyes blazed as Clark yelled at him. He whipped the gun up and fired straight at Clark's head. Clark braced himself as he saw Lionel pull the trigger. His ring all but blazed in the dimness of his office. Before Clark could do more than register that he was going to die there was a whoosh and Lex was between them. He raised a hand and caught the bullet. Lex gasped, staggering back against Clark.

"Lex!" Clark gasped.

"Idiot, run!" Lex growled. His hand was bleeding from the palm. Lex kept his fist clenched tight around the bullet.

"Lex, Lex, Lex, you never learn," Lionel said, smirking as he adjusted his ring. "You lose all your powers when you're around my ring."

Clark growled and jumped at Lionel, tackling him back against the huge desk. Lex gasped something that Clark didn't understand. It sounded like a foreign language. He ignored it in favor of grabbing Lionel's wrist.

Lionel shouted and hit Clark in the head with the gun. Clark grunted but managed to rip the ring off of Lionel's finger. He flung it across the room into a bunch of potted plants pretending to be a forest. The green glow faded to nothing.

"You little shit!" Lionel roared.

He shoved Clark back and hit Clark so hard in the head that it sounded like something broke. Clark fell backwards; realizing only as he fell that Lionel had broken something. He'd cracked Clark's skull. Clark felt himself hit the floor and tried desperately to get up but the pain was back, centered in his head this time. Someone shouted but the darkness was welling up and Clark was slipping away. He cursed as his lapsed into unconsciousness. How could he save Lex if he passed out?

+++++

"You little shit!" Lionel roared.

Lex straightened up as the effects of the kryptonite faded. His hand stopped hurting. He couldn't believe that Clark was this determined. No one had ever taken Lionel on this way. His awe changed to horror as Lionel hit Clark hard enough to send blood spraying into his face, splattering across his beard and nose.

Clark fell like a puppet with his strings cut. He twisted as he fell so that Lex saw his face. Clark's eyes were wide and unseeing. He looked angry and desperate and determined. There was no fear on his face. He had faced down Lionel and taken the worst Lionel had to offer without fear.

"I have had enough of you," Lionel shouted. He pointed the gun at Clark's head and his finger squeezed down on the trigger.

Time stopped as Lex sped up.

'This is my final chance,' Lex thought as he stood. He dropped the bullet he'd caught, letting it fall to the carpet. 'If I don't stop Lionel now then I will be nothing more than Alexander Luthor. I won't be Kal-El anymore. I'll be the villain's heir.'

Lex turned to Clark's body. It hadn't quite settled on the floor yet. His arm was still falling in extreme slow motion. There was a spray of blood droplets hanging in the air like molten rubies, marking the path that Clark's head had followed on his way to the ground.

'No,' Lex decided. 'I won't let this happen. I don't know how I'll do it yet but I choose to protect you Clark. I'll protect you, your family, your friends, and your world. No matter what it costs, I'll protect you.'

Lex turned back to Lionel. He'd just fired the gun. The gasses were exploding out the muzzle of the gun, propelling the bullet from the chamber. Lex reached over and caught the bullet. This time it didn't hurt at all. There was no kryptonite to weaken him. He used heat vision and heated Lionel's gun to red-hot.

Time returned to normal.

Lionel screamed, dropping the gun as it burned his hand. Lex looked at him and swung a fist, connecting with Lionel's jaw. His former father went flying across the room to crash into the door. He slumped to the floor, blocking it quite effectively against Mercy and the guards shouting outside.

"Time to go, Clark," Lex said.

He carefully picked Clark up, supporting his head and neck. Lex's heart leaped as Clark groaned. He hadn't been killed again. He'd just been stunned. That was helpful. Lionel had monitors in the room. He would only see that Clark had been injured, not that he was a mutant. Lex strode over to the window and kicked the pane of glass. It shattered outwards in a spray of glass shards that would rain down like little knives on the street below. Lex considered destroying them but it was the middle of the night. No one was down there to be hurt.

"Lex," Lionel panted as he levered himself up off of the floor.

"That's not my name," Lex said even though it always would be. Lionel had made sure that 'Lex Luthor' was a part of his soul. He looked at Lionel for a moment before stepping into the air.

"Lex!" Lionel bellowed.

Lex hovered and then flew up into the dark night. Lionel's bellows echoed in Lex's ears but his shouts were inaudible to a human within seconds. He couldn't take Clark home. Lionel was already shouting about getting Clark's parents, his friends, everyone he'd ever known. Fortunately there weren't that many people for Lionel to threaten. Lex could probably protect them all if he tried.

Instead, Lex carried Clark to the caves. They were darker than normal once Lex landed outside. Lex knew the path and his eyes saw in a different spectrum than humans did so it was easy to find his way to the altar chamber. Clark stirred as they arrived, mumbling something as he lifted his head.

"Where are we?" Clark asked.

"It's… complicated," Lex said. His stomach fluttered at what he knew he had to do. There was only one safe place for Clark and his parents in the whole world. "Can you stand?"

"Yeah," Clark said. "Should be okay. My head feels better already."

Lex set Clark down. Clark swayed and clung to his shoulders for a moment but quickly was standing on his own. Lex could see the way Clark looked around him blindly. It was obvious that the caves were too dark for him to see anything at all.

"Hold on to this for a second," Lex said, putting Clark's hands on the edge of the altar.

"Seriously, where are we Lex?" Clark asked. His fingers traced the Kryptonian writing on the altar and excitement lit his face up.

"It's an old place that no one knows about," Lex said. He got the Key from its hiding place in the wall. It was heavy in his hands, as though it knew what a huge decision Lex had made. "It's also a doorway to somewhere safe."

"You had a safe place and didn't go there?" Clark demanded. His face and voice were both incredulous.

"Well, mostly safe," Lex allowed. "Here, take my hand. This is going to be very disorienting for a moment and then very cold but I swear that you're safe, Clark."

Clark nodded, offering his hand with what looked like total confidence. Lex took it, fighting down the stomach flutters as well as a surge of completely inappropriate lust. Clark squeezed his hand and relaxed.

"I trust you, Lex," Clark said. "If you say it's mostly safe then it's mostly safe."

Lex felt his cheeks start burning at Clark's faith in him. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. His fingers trembled as he slid the Key into its slot. There were so many problems with taking Clark to the Fortress but Lex couldn't think of a safer place for him to be.

The Fortress transported them in movement that still felt odd to Lex. Clark staggered and shielded his eyes when they arrived. The Fortress glowed much brighter than the caves, lit from within by Jor-El's power and from without by the Aurora. Clark immediately started shivering.

"Welcome Kal-El, my son," Jor-El declared.

"Jor-El, raise the temperature in here to human comfort level," Lex called. "This is Clark Kent. He has complete access to every systems and every part of the Fortress. I want him cleared on all systems. He's… my ally."

"This is not wise, my son," Jor-El said. "This is a mere human."

"Who thinks better and faster than I do," Lex snarled, "who convinced me to follow my destiny, who should have been my brother on Earth, and who will help me stop Lionel from destroying the world. Do it!"

Jor-El was silent for a long moment. "Understood."

"What in the world?" Clark asked.

The words were barely comprehensible as his teeth chattered from the cold. He had huddled in on himself but the Fortress quickly heated up, snow melting into steam within seconds. Inside of thirty seconds the Fortress was as warm as a balmy spring day. Clark stared around the Fortress with awe. He was still clutching Lex's hand.

"My real name is Kal-El," Lex said despite the way his stomach was threatening vomiting. "I'm from the planet Krypton. It was destroyed when I was a boy. My father Jor-El was a scientist. He created a spaceship and sent me here to Earth. He'd visited Earth when he was younger and wanted me to grow up on this world. I was supposed to go and live with Kents but Lionel found me first. My spaceship killed the real Lex Luthor. Lionel has it. He's known what I am all along."

"That's why he's done all of this," Clark breathed. He stared at Lex with wide eyes full of ten million questions. "Oh my God, this is incredible! Aliens really have visited the Earth!"

Lex laughed, grinning at Clark. Clark shook his head as if to clear it, turning back to Lex with a far more intent expression. He carefully released Lex's hand, giving it a squeeze before he let go. Clark looked around and he went grim.

"Why bring me here?" Clark asked.

"Because I need your help, Clark," Lex admitted. "I can't do this alone."

+++++

"Why bring me here?" Clark asked.

His head was spinning, partially from Lionel's blow to his head but mostly from everything Lex had just told him. The alien building was stunningly beautiful, if very cold and austere. Lex looked like he belonged in it. He also looked frightened and desperately uncomfortable.

Clark kind of regretted letting his hand go. He'd thought that Lex had held his hand to comfort him but maybe Lex had found it comforting too. Lex swallowed hard before answering Clark's question with a voice that shook.

"Because I need your help, Clark," Lex admitted. "I can't do this alone."

"Do what?" Clark asked. "You know I'll help you any way that I can Lex but I'm not… I don't know what you're trying to do. What do you need help with?"

"I need to stop Lionel," Lex said so grimly that he looked almost like another person. "His experiments have to stop. Too many people have died already while I tried to work up my nerve. I can do so much but I've never been able to figure out how to stop him other than killing him. That… that's something I will not do. I won't descend to his level. I can't. Not with what I can do. I can't kill. That's a line I can never cross."

Clark stared, rocked back on his heels by the queasy expression on Lex's face at the thought of killing. He knew that he had a somewhat skewed view of death from having survived it so many times but there seemed to be much more to Lex's unease that just not wanting to end another being's life. Clark frowned, reaching out to take Lex's elbow.

"There's more to that isn't there?" Clark asked. "To not wanting to kill?"

"Much more." Lex nodded. "History from my world. My powers. I could become the greatest tyrant and serial killer in history if I allowed myself to cross that line. I… There are so many reasons why I can't do it."

Clark nodded, his thoughts finally starting to pick up to their normal speed as his headache improved. He still had blood in his hair but it felt like his skull had healed up. Lex could be a terror if he went in the wrong direction. That he'd resisted Lionel's machinations for so long was a testimate to his real character. Clark didn't think he'd have been able to resist Lionel like that for anywhere near as long.

"Okay. Um, I've pieced together some of what Lionel's done but not all of it," Clark said. He set aside the questions about why Lex wouldn't kill for the moment. He could ask later. "Why do you think he deserves to die? What's he done, exactly? Maybe we can get him arrested for it or something instead. It's a much better choice to get him arrested and thrown in jail than to kill him. And we should get LuthorCorp shut down, too, and that's not going to happen without their activities being known. Tell me what Lionel's done, Lex."

"There's no time for that," Lex protested. He looked desperately uncomfortable at the thought of doing it.

"No time like present," Clark disagreed. "Unless, you know, he's going after Mom and Dad. That would be bad."

"He… is but they haven't gotten to the farm yet," Lex said, apparently listening to something beyond Clark's hearing. "We have a few minutes."

Clark started, staring at Lex as he realized that Lex literally was hearing people going to attack his parents. He beamed at Lex in awe for a second and then squawked.

"We gotta save them!" Clark gasped.

"I was planning on bringing them here," Lex said and nodded. "Come here. I want to get you initialized on the control system. It has a monitoring function that should allow you to see what's going on out there. I can only hear what I can focus on. This will allow you to monitor much more and let me know what's going on."

The controls weren't like anything Clark had ever seen before. They were just big frosty crystals jutting out of the floor, but as Lex explained their functions Clark realized that they were much more. They were supercomputers or masses of them, each crystal performing specific, engineered functions and working together to create a computer system that was literally beyond anything Clark had ever imagined.

"This is so cool," Clark crooned as he called up the records on what had happened to Lex while he was in Lionel's hands.

Displays appeared, showing beatings, Lex getting starved, attacked, molested, raped. Lex had been experimented on in terrible ways. Lionel had humiliated and done everything in his power to destroy Lex's spirit. Lex was very pale but he let Clark look at whatever he wanted. He did stand so rigidly that he looked like he might be made of the same crystal as the Fortress. Clark didn't stop until the Fortress itself rumbled like there had been a minor earthquake.

"This is unacceptable," Jor-El declared in the angriest tones that Clark had ever heard. The words were still a bit mechanical but he could hear rage in Jor-El's voice.

"Agreed," Clark said. "That's why I was determined to stop Lionel. I knew most of this had to have happened but gah, it's different seeing it."

"You knew?" Lex asked. He stared at Clark with shame in his eyes.

"Oh sure," Clark shrugged. "I knew that before I met you. What I told Lionel in the office is quite literally true, Lex. I figured most of this out before I met you. I've been working on figuring out how to stop him since I was about six years old when I realized that no one else could heal like me."

Lex laughed, a breathless little puff of air that was barely a laugh at all. He shook his head in dismay, the shame changing to amusement and relief. Clark blushed and shrugged, absentmindedly patting the console as if to calm Jor-El down.

"All right," Clark said. "That explains why you've been so guarded."

"It explains why you have resisted fulfilling your destiny, my son," Jor-El declared. He still sounded pissed off.

"Yeah, and it gives us a very good avenue to attack Lionel," Clark said. "All of this? It's illegal, Lex. We don't want to attack Lionel personally. We want to attack his business. This stuff needs to be leaked to the public. We need to see if we can get Bruce Wayne and Oliver Queen to help out. They've got resources and protections that Lionel can't touch. Hopefully we can give them some of this information and they can tip the government off as to what's happening. I'm sure that there's enough suspicion of Lionel's actions that they'd act on it."

Lex blinked as Clark talked rapidly. He nodded at the end, a thoroughly wicked smile curving his lips. The stiffness disappeared and the Lex that Clark had gotten to know outside of the bugged areas came back.

"That's brilliant," Lex said. "I tend to forget that this isn't just a battle between me and my adoptive father."

"He's hurt lots of people," Clark said grimly. "There are literally thousands of people who hate him but they're all afraid and they only have tiny bits of information on what's going on. None of them can do anything alone but if we can get the ball rolling they're going to come out of the woodwork to attack him. LuthorCorp and Lionel will go down as long as we can get things started."

"Good," Lex said. He put a hand on Clark's elbow, frowning into the distance again. "I have to go, Clark. They're about to attack your parents. I need to get them to bring them here."

"Go," Clark said a little nervously. "Don't let Dad argue. He could argue the hind leg off of a horse if you give him a chance and this is way too important for that."

"And too dangerous," Lex said grimly. "They've brought assault rifles, not tranquilizers."

Lex disappeared in a whoosh of air that was followed by a flash of light. Clark wobbled, extending a hand to lean against the control console. The thought of people firing on his parents in the middle of the night horrified them. They'd be up and moving around but even if they'd gone to bed it was still a horrifying image. Clark shuddered and pushed the image of men like the ones who had kidnapped him standing over his parents' bed and pulling the trigger to blow their brains out.

"Jor-El," Clark said to distract himself from that thought, "tell me about Lex's, Kal-El's destiny. Why was he sent here? What was he supposed to do?"

+++++

Lex flew from the caves to the Kent farm at top speed. He knew he was setting off sonic booms as he went but didn't care. There wasn't much time left to save the Kents. He should have gone as soon as Clark started checking the archives but the images of what had happened to him had frozen him in place.

He had forgotten how bad some of it had been.

"You have to come with me," Lex announced as he returned to normal speed.

"What the hell?" Jonathan gasped, backing off a step in alarm.

"Where did you come from?" Martha asked while staring wildly around the kitchen.

"There's time for that later," Lex said. "They're coming to kill you because I saved Clark. You need to come with me _now_."

"Is he all right?" Martha asked. She grabbed Lex's arm, staring up at him with worry.

"Where is he?" Jonathan demanded.

"What part of men with rifles coming to kill you isn't clear?" Lex demanded.

He grabbed Martha around the waist, picking her up. He took two steps and grabbed Jonathan as well. They both squawked but Lex didn't listen. He'd left the door open when he rushed in so it was easy to rush right back out and take flight into the air. He couldn't work the altar in the caves with his hands full and he didn't like going there more than once or twice a week so Lex flew straight for the Fortress instead.

It was remarkably easy to shield them from the acceleration and the effect of the wind, far more so than he'd expected. The last time he'd attempted this, before rescuing Clark, had been with Jason and he'd had the watch on. He'd never rescued anyone with his full powers before. Of course, before Clark he'd never rescued anyone at all. It was a very good feeling, if frightening in what they were going to say once they landed.

Martha clung to Lex. Her nails dug into his jacket so hard that if he'd been human there would have been bloody half circles on his shoulder and side. Jonathan was stiff in Lex's embrace. He made abortive little squirms as if he wanted to be let go but then realized that they were flying and stopped himself.

It took about two minutes to fly them back to the Fortress. By the time Lex swooped down into the central area where Clark was staring at the control panel with a serious expression they had both stilled. Lex carefully set them down next to Clark, releasing them gently.

"Mom! Dad!" Clark cried. He flung himself at them, hugging them both tightly.

"Oh baby we were so worried about you!" Martha cried, clinging to him.

Jonathan just grunted, hugging both of his family members tightly. Lex could see tears in his eyes. As always, the familiar ache that this wasn't his family swelled up in Lex's heart. Would that anyone ever looked like that when he came into a room. It took a long while for them to stop hugging. Lex turned away and listened to Lionel's men searching the farmhouse. He winced. It sounded like they were trashing the place as they looked for the Kents or any sign of where they'd gone.

"Thank you," Clark said. "For saving them. For saving me, too."

"I… had to make a choice," Lex said, shrugging off the thanks. "I had to act or become nothing more than Lionel's heir."

"You are his heir," Jonathan growled. He glared at Lex.

"Dad, no he's not," Clark said with a glare of his own for his father. "Lex isn't really Lex Luthor. The real Lex died in the meteor shower. Lionel stole Lex and forced him to pretend that he was Lex."

"What?" Jonathan asked. He looked at Lex and Clark in turn, startlement warring with disbelief and confusion on his face. "What are you talking about?"

Lex pondered how to explain it for a moment but Clark cut him off before he could formulate his thoughts into coherent phrases.

"He's the son of that drifter that Grandpa knew back when Lana's aunt was murdered," Clark explained. "I looked it up. Joe the drifter was actually Jor-El, who was an alien from another world. Lex's real name is Kal-El. Jor-El was so impressed with Grandpa that when his world was destroyed he sent Lex here to be raised as a Kent. He was supposed to end up with you, to live as your adopted son but Lionel found him first and stole him. It was all in his spaceship but that got stolen too. Kal should have been a Kent, not a Luthor."

"What?" Jonathan asked. His jaw had dropped open as he stared at Clark.

"I can show you," Clark said.

He moved away from his parents and went to the control panel. Clark manipulated the controls, pulling up a recording of Jor-El from before Krypton had been destroyed. Lex's breath caught and tears welled up in his eyes. He was there, standing in front of his father with a solemn expression and his long-lost auburn hair that nearly matched Martha's. Lex remembered the recording being made but he'd thought that it was only vocal. He hadn't realized that there had been a visual image created too.

"This is Kal-El of Krypton," Jor-El intoned, "our only son, our last hope. Please protect him and deliver him from evil. We will be with you, Kal-El, all the days of your life."

Jor-El looked serious and grave as he said the first sentences and then smiled like the sun was coming out as he said the last sentence. He looked down at the younger Lex with nothing but love in his eyes. Lex shuddered and shut his eyes against the tears that wanted to spill out. Lara had been watching, tending the recording equipment. They had been in the garden, Lara's favorite room. The sun had been setting, changing the sky from lavender to deep purple shot with stars and the clouds from pink to rich gold. He could even remember the smell of the flowers blooming in the garden now that he'd been reminded.

"Our son will be very powerful," Jor-El continued. Lex's eyes flew open in shock. He didn't remember this part. "We want him to be raised by people as strong as he is so that he will develop into a good man. The Kent clan is exactly what I wish my son to be. Raise him well."

The second clip of video was shot late at night. The room was dark enough that very little could be seen other than Jor-El's grim expression. It looked like he was operating the recording equipment alone from the angle of the recording. Lex could just make out the shapes of the bookshelves and their crystalline contents behind him, gleaming faintly in the night.

"I never knew he made that one," Lex whispered as Clark shut off the recordings. "I knew about the first but not the second."

"God," Jonathan breathed. It sounded very much like a prayer, not an expletive.

"You were supposed to be my son too?" Martha asked. She had tears in her eyes as she came over and raised a hand to touch Lex's cheek.

Lex nodded, unable to say anything in the face of her tears. She hugged him the way she'd hugged Clark. Lex held her, shutting his eyes against the disapproval that he was sure had to be in Jonathan's eyes. He nearly started right out of his shoes when Jonathan's hand rested on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry we didn't find you in time, son," Jonathan said. His expression held nothing but regret.

"Not your fault," Lex said. His voice came out rough from suppressed tears and emotion. "What's done is done."

"But this isn't done yet!" Clark declared. "We've still got to stop Lionel and his stupid army and all those experiments."

"True." Lex cleared his throat and nodded. Martha smiled sadly and released Lex. Even if he should have been theirs, he wasn't. He was Kal-El but he was also Lex Luthor and both sides of him had to stop what Lionel was doing to the world and his innocent victims.

"How?" Jonathan asked. He seemed as puzzled by the problem as Lex had always been.

"Allies," Clark explained eagerly. "Lex already has agreements with Bruce Wayne and Oliver Queen. He can go to them, explain what's happened to him and ask for their help. He doesn't even need to tell them that he's an alien or anything. He can just say that Lionel hurt him, abused him, did experiments on him. They can take the information about the illegal experiments to the government and use other means to attack Lionel. They're really rich and powerful. Lionel won't be able to destroy both of them."

"Go public," Martha agreed, nodding thoughtfully. "If we can find a way to leak some of the worst experiments to the public somehow then the government will get involved."

"I should have asked for help years ago," Lex sighed. "I've always seen it as a personal battle between us."

Clark and Martha tossed ideas back and forth for a few minutes. They quickly built an elegantly simple plan to destroy Lionel that relied on the truth, Bruce Wayne as their first contact, and the Fortress' surveillance equipment combined with Lex's abilities. Thus a half hour later Lex was striding up the steps to Wayne Manor and blessing the fact that the Fortress was in a very different time zone than Gotham City. It was nearly morning here so hopefully Bruce would be home from whatever party he'd been attending.

"Mister Luthor," Alfred said, raising an eyebrow and looking remarkably unrumpled despite having just been called from his bed to answer the door. "May I ask why you are here?"

"I need to talk to Bruce," Lex said. He clenched his hands into fists to keep them from shaking. "It's about my father."

"Ah," Alfred said. He nodded as if that explained everything and stepped aside. "Please follow me. I'll go get Master Bruce. It will be just one moment."

"Thank you," Lex said.

He twitched while waiting for Bruce to arrive. This was the part that he was most worried about. How could he convince Bruce that this was all true without telling him everything? Clark hadn't been worried about it but he wasn't the one who'd watched people being destroyed for attempting to help him his entire life.

"Lex," Bruce said. He swept into the drawing room as though he was wide awake. He looked like it. "What can I do for you?"

"I need your help," Lex said, cutting straight to the chase. "I don't know how much you know about what my father's doing but it needs to stop. I've… I can't let it go on. I've tried to stop him personally and failed. I need help to stop him for good."

"All right," Bruce said. He smiled a very different smile from his normal not-so-bright socialite smile. This one was sharp, dangerous and very intelligent looking. "I'm glad you're finally trying something new. What do you need me to do?"

"This has information about Lionel's experiments," Lex said as he pulled a flash drive out of his pocket. Jor-El had scoffed at it when Clark had told him to create it but it should contain enough information to bring Lionel down. "There are things that no one has ever seen on this, including things that he did to me. I ah…"

"You've got powers," Bruce nodded as he took the flash drive. "I know."

Bruce laughed at the expression on Lex's face, an impish grin appearing in the sharp smile's place. He went to the wet bar to pour two drinks. Lex took his and gratefully drank it in three quick swallows. It wouldn't do much but it still made him feel better to have a glass in his hand.

"It wasn't hard to figure out," Bruce said with a shrug. "Some of your wilder escapades couldn't have happened without some sort of meta abilities. I'm not sure exactly what powers you have but I do know that you have them. I've never told anyone other than Alfred. It didn't seem wise given your father's tendency of destroying people."

"A lot of people who got too close have died," Lex whispered. "That's part of why I've held back. I didn't want to endanger anyone by getting too close."

"What changed?" Bruce sipped his brandy while studying Lex over the top of his glass.

"I got too close," Lex chuckled and set his glass down. "Lionel took… the person I cared about. He was going to kill him and I realized that if I let it happen I would be what Lionel wanted me to be, not myself. I've hidden the whole family away but I still don't know how to keep Lionel from figuring out that it's me attacking him. I know that he'll suspect but I need some way to distance it."

"Have you considered wearing a costume?" Bruce asked. He smirked and raised his eyebrow. "Like that Batman fellow in Gotham. That would protect your identity and the identity of your chosen person."

Lex started laughing. He couldn't help it. The idea of wearing spandex and a cape like some of the other superheroes out there was too funny. He shook his head, grinning at Bruce who smirked back at him. He was obviously quite serious about the suggestion.

"Sorry," Lex said once the laughter died. "Just the thought of spandex tights and underwear on the outside."

"I was thinking more in the order of a mask and armor, but yes," Bruce chuckled. "It was just a suggestion. I'll pass this on to Oliver and we'll see if I can't get some other people involved. I do have some contacts that might be… helpful in this."

"Don't tell me about it," Lex warned with a raised hand. "The less I know the less I can reveal. I should be going. Lionel's people are heading to my mansion and I need to be there before they get there."

"You're that fast?" Bruce asked in surprise.

"Possibly the fastest person alive," Lex shrugged. "I don't know. I've never met anyone who can move faster than me. Thank you for your help, Bruce. I really appreciate it."

"Good luck."

Bruce saluted Lex with the dregs of his brandy. Lex nodded back to him and blurred out of the Manor and into the sky. It took less than three seconds to get back to the mansion and back into his bed. At least Lionel couldn't prove that Lex had been anywhere else. The bugs were gone. Lionel had no proof that Lex had been to Metropolis. Of course, he also had no idea where Lex had taken Clark and the Kents.

As Lionel's men broke down the front door Lex sighed. He was probably going to have to replace even more of the woodwork in the mansion after this. Lionel's men didn't sound like they were going to be gentle about searching his home.

"Wish me luck, Clark," Lex murmured as he got out of bed as if he'd been rudely awakened.

*Luck!* Clark's voice echoed in the Fortress.

Lex's ears picked it up easily. He didn't know when his ears had become tuned to Clark's voice but obviously they had. It made him feel better about confronting the men charging up the stairs with kryptonite embedded in their weapons. Clark, Jonathan and Martha were safe. Lex would survive what Lionel did to him. The important part was saving the world, not saving him.

+++++

"Damn, damn, damn," Clark muttered as he worked through the complicated, incredible, amazing, delightful, wonderful, completely fucked up programming that made up Jor-El's personality matrix. He was having the time of his life but this was too important for him to just play around learning things.

"Clark," Mom scolded absently as she carried a crystal tray in that held food and that wonderful foamy not-hot-chocolate drink that Dad had declared was the best thing ever.

"Sorry, Mom," Clark said with an apologetic smile at her. "This is just such a mess."

"I'm surprised that you understand any of it," Mom said. "It's got to be much more advanced than anything on Earth."

Clark nodded. The hot drink was spicy-sweet goodness. His lunch was hot soup and a warm sandwich, which meant that Mom was worrying about them getting too cold again. During the last week and a half since they'd come here she'd spent a huge amount of time worrying about Dad getting a cold and Clark getting temporary frostbite. The temperatures inside of the Fortress were quite reasonable so Clark figured that it was purely a way of keeping herself from fretting about what was going on outside.

Dad had spent all his time prowling the Fortress to see what was there. The garden and the zoo fascinated him. Something like two thirds of his time was spent there just trying to figure out what the animals and plants were. It seemed harmless enough and it did keep him out of Clark's hair as he worked in the control center.

Lex's fate was what Clark was focused on. Between Lionel's increasingly violent attacks against Lex and Jor-El's frequent demands for Lex to 'fulfill his destiny' Clark was worried that his two fathers would destroy him before he had a chance to do anything substantial. With the viewers Clark could watch what happened with Lionel but he couldn't do anything about it. Jor-El, however, Clark could do something about so that was where he was focusing all of his time and effort. It was the first time in his life that he felt stupid.

"It is beyond me for the most part," Clark said once he'd swallowed. "This stuff is so advanced that it's ridiculous but there are still patterns that I can see. I've gone over all of the programming underlying Jor-El's personality and it looks right to me but there's some outside factor that keeps adjusting his responses."

"He's got a virus in the software?" Mom cocked her head to the side as she asked the question. "Or is it something from outside the programming affecting him?"

"I'm not sure," Clark said slowly. "I have to find a way to track down outside influences I guess. There doesn't seem to be a virus but it's hard to be sure the way things keep changing on me."

He ate while working on the problem. Despite what Lex had ordered, Clark didn't have full access. Being incapable of destroying the planet didn't bother Clark at all. He was kind of relieved that he couldn't control that particular function, along with the other weapons that the Fortress held.

However there were other functions that he couldn't control that were a problem. He couldn't change the programming of the Fortress, even when it was something like the temperature control issues that were wonky. Bathrooms didn't need to be that hot and the bedrooms were way too cold. He couldn't communicate directly with Lex despite the fact that the Fortress had the capacity to give him messages as well as to monitor him. This would all be much easier if there were some way for them to communicate directly but Jor-El, or whatever was affecting his programming, had blocked that function.

It drove Clark crazy that Lex could hear Clark talking but he couldn't respond to Clark's questions if anyone was around him. There were things they could about it if the Fortress was cooperating but Lex did still have to work and live his life. Lionel had gotten much worse with Bruce and Oliver attacking his company and the government investigating claims of illegal experimentation. It was vital that Lex look and act as normal as possible.

"Weird," Clark commented once he'd finished eating. "The list changed."

"What list?" Mom asked.

"The things that I can and can't do," Clark explained. "It changed just now. Before you came I couldn't adjust the temperature in here and now I can."

"That is odd," Mom said. She looked over his shoulder at the displays with a blank expression. She was starting to learn Kryptonian but it was much slower for her than it had been for Clark. He thought that she could sound out words but it was very slow for her. "Are you sure there isn't anything external causing this, sweetie? That seems very odd to me."

Definitively answering her question took Clark another three days of intense effort but he succeeded in the end. One of the crystals in the control panel was either flawed or had been altered somehow. By the time Clark tracked down that it was just that one crystal and not a virus that was lurking inside of the programming for the whole system Lex had returned for his nightly visit.

"You really should take more breaks, Clark," Lex said. He smiled that worried but gently encouraging smile that Clark had already learned hid a heck of a lot of yearning. Clark wasn't sure what was holding Lex back other than Clark's age.

"Yeah, I know," Clark said with a grin that melted Lex's distant façade faster than a blowtorch on ice. "But I think I've made some progress finally."

"I've been listening," Lex said, "but you haven't been talking much so I'm not sure what you've found."

He came to the control panel, standing close enough to Clark that he could feel the heat coming from Lex's body. There were fading bruises around his eyes and a big bruise on his neck. Clark must have missed another attack against Lex while he was working. There had been so many in the last couple of weeks that Clark was afraid that Lionel was going to kill Lex despite his invulnerability.

"Well, I've been trying to find out where the whole 'fulfill your destiny' thing comes from," Clark explained. He didn't reach out and touch the bruises despite the way they made his heart ache for Lex. Lex didn't need that right now. "It isn't part of his base programming. I've verified that about a dozen times. However, there is this weird thing where directives and functions keep getting overridden. It seems to be something outside of Jor-El, outside of the Fortress' programming."

"That's odd," Lex commented. He swayed a little closer to Clark and then away again when he realized what he was doing.

"Agreed." Clark nodded. He pointed at a specific crystal at the bottom of the control panel. "I think that that crystal is compromised. It took forever to track it down but it seems to be the correct one."

Lex frowned. Light filled the control console as he started working with it, checking over everything that Clark had found. Clark worked with him, explaining what he'd checked, why and what he'd found when he'd checked it. All the little quirks and strange programming changes continued while Lex verified his work. They intensified as Lex closed in on the source of the problems, leading to the lights in the Fortress flickering.

"Hey, what's going on with the lights?" Dad asked. He walked into the control area hand in hand with Mom.

"I think Clark's found the source of my problems with Jor-El," Lex said. Excitement was clear in his voice despite the worried frown on his face.

"Can you fix it?" Mom asked.

"Possibly," Lex said. "However there is a problem. The crystal that appears to have been compromised is dangerous to handle. There's a constant current running through it. I have to think about how to handle this. I don't want to damage the Fortress or hurt anyone."

He stepped back, leaving Clark standing by the control console. Mom and Dad both nodded, Dad with that sad expression in his eyes that he'd gotten once he realized that Lex should have been his son. Worry was the only thing in Mom's eyes. Lex sighed, rubbing a hand over his scalp.

"While you've been busy here I've been working on making sure that your farm's okay," Lex said. "The new farm hands are working out well. Nell and Lana are taking care of the house for you though that mostly consists of coming over to check on things once a day. The back field that has corn, I think?"

"Yeah, white corn," Dad confirmed with an eager nod. "How's that doing?"

"Not so well," Lex said. "There are some insects that appear to be attacking the stalks and I'm not sure what should be done about it."

He slowly walked away from the control console, drawing Mom and Dad with them. Clark began to follow but he stopped when he realized what Lex was doing. He was drawing them all away from the control console. Clark looked back at the crystal. It was pulsing slowing from the energy running through it.

'He's trying to protect us again,' Clark thought. 'It's dangerous, not just to him, but to us.'

Lex had drawn Mom and Dad most of the way across the room by then. Clark watched until they were at the door and then took the two steps back to the console. Mom and Dad could die. Lex could die, though of course it was much harder for him. Death wasn't something Clark had to worry about. His fingers trembled as he grasped the crystal.

"Clark, no!"

Lex's shout came too late. Electricity arced through Clark's body as he pulled the faulty crystal from its slot. There was no time for anything but sheer, overwhelming pain before Clark was dying. His only thought was that he hoped that while he fell he pulled the damned thing the rest of the way from its slot so that no one else had to go through this.

+++++

"Clark, no!" Lex shouted while his blood turned to ice in his veins.

He'd been trying to draw all of them away but in his focus on saving Jonathan and Martha he'd failed to save Clark from his own sheer determination to protect Lex. Clark pulled the compromised crystal from its home and the full power of the Fortress arced through his body. It was like looking at a lightning bolt that lasted and lasted. Lex sped up but even so he was too late to save Clark from his fate.

By the time he reached Clark's side a few milliseconds later his body was crisp and blackened. Lex caught Clark's falling body, a horrified moan ripping out of his throat at how badly burned Clark was. The smell of burnt flesh and hair filled Lex's nostrils as Martha started screaming.

"The hell?" Jonathan shouted. Loss and fear echoed in his voice.

Every light in the Fortress shut off, dropping them into darkness illuminated only by starlight filtered through the now-gray crystal pillars of the Fortress' walls. The temperature immediately started bottoming out. Martha and Jonathan stumbled to Lex's side. Their hands were shaking from so much more than cold as they reached out to help Lex lay Clark's body on the ground.

"What happened?" Jonathan asked. His teeth were chattering already.

"Clark did it again," Lex said while fighting off tears. "He decided to protect me by pulling the crystal out himself."

"He'll come back," Martha whispered as she leaned into Jonathan's side. "He'll come back. He always comes back."

They all started as the lights came back on and the temperature inside of the Fortress began to rise. Lex could see a difference in the spectrum of light that it was emitting, very faintly but it was there. Something had changed with the removal of the crystal so hopefully Clark's sacrifice wouldn't be in vain.

"Welcome, Kal-El, my son," Jor-El said in exactly the same tones that Lex remembered from Krypton. "Welcome, Martha and Jonathan Kent."

"He's back?" Martha asked wonderingly. "Can he fix Clark?"

"Jor-El!" Lex shouted. "How long until Clark revives? Can you heal him?"

A scanning beam came down from the ceiling to play over Clark's blackened body. Lex counted his rapid heartbeats while trying to battle down the fear that this would be the time that Clark didn't come back. He still hadn't said anything to Clark about how he felt. He hadn't admitted what Clark had come to mean to him. He wasn't sure that he could stop Lionel without Clark's assistance. Clark had to come back!

"He is healing on his own," Jor-El said in a worried tone of voice, "but it will be very slow given the extent of the damage. I cannot interfere with the process without causing permanent damage. The injury inflicted on him was by my energies so his body is sensitized to them until he has restored himself. Were I to interfere I might kill him."

"Damn it!" Jonathan growled. He thumped a fist into the floor, looking away from them all.

"Jor-El, I want the medical center activated," Lex said as he very carefully picked Clark up. He had no idea what moving Clark would do but his arms, especially the arm locked around the crystal, were quite literally brittle. They couldn't leave him here where he'd be exposed to accidental damage. "Set up a scanning bed so that we can keep track of how Clark is doing. If at any point his body can't handle healing this much damage I want you to intervene."

"Understood, my son," Jor-El said. "It is done."

Martha and Jonathan followed Lex to the infirmary. The scanning bed didn't look like anything other than a large chunk of crystal raised up out of the floor but it lit up when Lex set Clark's body on it. A protective force field formed over his body to keep him from being damaged while he healed. Tears ran down Martha's cheeks but she didn't acknowledge them when she looked at Lex.

"How long?" Martha whispered.

"The scanner estimates about a month," Lex replied. He tried not to let his shoulders slump but Jonathan's hand rested on his back and Martha took his hand so he thought he failed at that as well. "I'm sorry."

"Clark's done this his whole life," Jonathan said sadly. "The boy has no sense of self preservation. Don't know if it's from his powers or just part of who he is but he'll do anything to help the people he cares about. He cares a lot about you, Lex."

"Jonathan's right," Martha said. She wiped her tears away with her free hand. "As horrible as this is to see, Clark will be back. We just have to wait for him. In the meantime what are we going to do? Lionel is still an issue."

Lex nodded and let them pull him away from Clark's side. They were right. He could stay here and brood about his failures or he could go do something that would make Clark proud of him when he woke up again. Walking away from Clark's side was incredibly difficult. He _wanted_ to stay there and watch the slow progress of Clark's healing. He needed to be there when he woke.

"Lionel is getting worse," Lex admitted quietly. "The attacks are getting far more violent and there's nothing I can do to strike back. I can't expose my powers by retaliating without risking being arrested as his accomplice."

"Maybe you can hide who you are somehow?" Jonathan suggested.

"Bruce did suggest wearing a costume like the Batman's," Lex said. He made a face at the idea. "I don't particularly like the idea but it might work. At least no one would know it was me when I acted."

"That's a great idea," Martha said encouragingly. She patted Lex's arm and smiled up at him. It was a wan, somewhat teary smile, but it was better than nothing. "I assume you'd make it lavender, black and gray?"

Lex looked down at his lavender shirt, gray tie and black suit and nodded. Clark's bright face flashed behind his eyes prompting Lex to turn and look back at his body on the scanner bed. The bright red of his jacket and the blue of his shirt were nearly blackened out of existence but Lex could still see them.

"No, then again, everyone knows that these are my colors," Lex said slowly with his eyes locked on Clark. "I think it should be red and blue, maybe with gold accents. This… I never would have done any of this without Clark's encouragement. I'll wear his colors, not mine."

Martha's hug startled Lex, as did Jonathan's clap on the back accompanied by a cough that hid what might have been a sob. The tears he'd been fighting since Clark sacrificed himself finally won. Lex shut his eyes and let the parents he'd never have comfort him until all of their tears subsided. It took quite some time.

The control room seemed soiled somehow despite the complete lack of evidence of Clark's most recent death. Lex shuddered as he worked the controls to create a battle suit like the ones that warriors used back on Krypton. Crystal shouldn't feel sticky and blood stained, especially since Lex knew that it was all in his mind.

"Um, are the frills normal?" Jonathan asked. He was grinning when Lex turned to look at him.

"I do intend to take those off," Lex chuckled. "But yes, they were a normal part of a battle suit. Padding under the armor, I believe. I don't need armor so I don't need the frills."

It took the better part of an hour to tweak the suit design into something that would work both for a superhero's costume and not embarrass Lex too much to be seen in public. He still ended up with an underwear-on-the-outside effect but it was relatively discrete and would allow him to get in and out of the suit rapidly. The cape was purely because Martha thought it gave the suit balance and presence. Lex insisted on the cowl that his everything but his mouth and chin. He didn't want to completely obscure his face but he couldn't let anyone see his far too identifiable bald head.

"Needs a symbol," Jonathan complained once they were done. "All of the superheroes have some sort of symbol. It looks unfinished right now."

"Allow me," Jor-El interjected.

The House of El symbol appeared in gold on the suit's chest and cape. Jonathan nodded, smiling happily at it. Martha cocked her head to the side to study it and then nodded approval. Lex hesitated for a very long moment before nodding as well.

"Make it, Jor-El," Lex ordered. "In fact, make several for me. I imagine I'll need several of them once I start fighting Lionel's men."

"Done," Jor-El said.

Lex could feel his cheeks blushing once he was dressed in his new suit but at least the cowl hid the blush from the world. It was quite comfortable and easy to move in but far tighter than Lex was comfortable with. Appearing in public was going to be a challenge to his acting skills until he got used to the thing. Capes weren't as easy to maneuver as he'd assumed.

"This is going to take some getting used to," Lex complained as the cape tried to tangle around his ankles.

"You'll be fine," Martha said. She beamed at him, her smile almost as bright as Clark's best grins.

"Lionel's men are moving in on the mansion," Jor-El announced.

"That's my cue," Lex sighed. "I'll be back tomorrow night. If you need anything just ask Jor-El or speak up. I'll hear."

"Good luck, Lex," Jonathan said. He patted Lex's shoulder and then let Lex go.

Lex went. It took about two minutes to subdue his father's people despite the kryptonite weapons they were carrying. Lex delivered them to the Metropolis police so that there wouldn't be any connection between his mansion and the new superhero. He smiled at the police and then took off into the air to go after a facility of Lionel's that hadn't been exposed yet. Explosions brought in enough news media that Lionel couldn't cover up the illegal experiments that had been going on inside. That he managed to save several mutants who were being experimented on made up for being photographed in a suit that made Lex feel nude.

"Who are you?" one of the reporters shouted.

"Just someone trying to help," Lex called to her. "Good evening."

He flew off towards home at top speed. He could hear his father's helicopter approaching the mansion so it was time to go back to his normal identity as Lex Luthor. He supposed as he landed and hurried inside to change into normal clothes that he'd have to think of some sort of name for himself. It hadn't occurred to him until the reporter asked. Hopefully he wouldn't be dubbed with something idiotic before he decided. He sauntered down to the front door to meet his father as if it had been a quiet evening.

"Father," Lex said, raising an eyebrow at the thunderous rage in his eyes. "To what do I owe the honor this time?"

"I think you know very well why I'm here," Lionel snarled. "If you think some idiotic suit will fool me you're sadly mistaken."

"Are you feeling well, Father?" Lex drawled. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Lionel's kryptonite ring glowed brightly as it approached Lex's jaw. For once Lex barely cared about the coming beating. Three people who should be dead were alive because of him. Clark was gone for the moment but he would be back. He and Jonathan and Martha were all safe. Jor-El was restored to the man Lex remembered.

No beating could dim his joy in all of that, though Clark waking up and smiling at him again would surpass all other joys in the world.

+++++

"Hey! Look! It's Superman!"

Lex did his best not to wince at the shout from below. He should have known that he'd end up with a stupid name when he appeared without giving a name for himself. The public adored Superman, not only because he was unfailingly polite and courteous in exactly the opposite way that he normally spoke but also because he didn't just attack Lionel.

He'd spent the last couple of weeks doing far more than stopping his adoptive father. There had been an earthquake that he'd done a great deal of assistance at. Several fires had been put out. A bridge had collapsed outside of Metropolis and Lex managed to be there to save the people threatened. None of it had been planned. He'd simply been patrolling or heard the disaster and then done what he thought Clark would do.

Following 'what would Clark do' appeared to be a highly effective way of dealing with super-heroics.

"You!"

Something big and far stronger than Lex had ever encountered impacted his side, knocking him from his flight path into a skyscraper. The shouted voice was deep and gravelly, as well as completely unfamiliar. Glass rained down around him as Lex twisted to his feet to confront whoever had attacked him.

"What?" Lex breathed.

It was large and gray, with spikes that looked like bone or crystal. It's eyes were green, the exact shade of green that Kryptonite glowed when Lex interacted with it. The creature grinned at him and charged.

Lex leaped out of the building and into midair, not quite evading the creature's grab. It latched onto his cape and hauled, attempting to pull Lex back into its arms.

"No way," Lex snapped. He triggered the release on his cape, letting the creature have it.

"You…" the creature snarled.

Its eyes glowed more brightly and suddenly a blast very like Lex's heat vision hit him in the chest. Lex shouted, glaring and hitting the creature with his heat vision. The angry snarl that contorted its face showed that he was having an effect, but not much of one, much like the creature.

Time sped up as the creature leaped straight at him, arms extended to grab him. Lex grabbed its wrist, flinging it with all of his strength up into the air and away from the center of town. He gasped as the creature twisted at Lex's speed and grabbed his arm, dragging him along as it went flying. It pounded a fist into Lex's chest powerfully enough to drive the air from his lungs.

Lex grunted and fought back at super speed. By the time they crashed into a warehouse on the far side of Metropolis they'd managed to pound each other bloody. Lex's suit was torn and bloodied in many places. The creature's body was covered with cuts and bruises from Lex's punches, heat vision and kicks. It was like attacking himself. The creature was stronger than him, nearly as invulnerable and just as fast.

"What are you?" Lex demanded once they'd rolled to their feet in the middle of the crater. "Who are you?"

"You," the creature repeated. "You attacked him. You attacked Dad. You have to pay. Won't let you destroy him!"

It charged again, hitting Lex in the chest hard enough that he felt bones break, only to heal the next moment. Lex went flying into one of the remaining warehouse walls, bringing it down around his ears. He shoved the concrete rubble off of his back, struggling back to his feet to face his attacker with the 'Dad' comment echoing in his mind.

The creature was gone.

Lex stared around the destruction that they'd created. It was gone, entirely gone. Lex frowned as he studied the footprints left in the dust by the creature. They started out huge, misshapen with claws but a couple of yards into its dash away they were human shaped. He knelt and rested his fingertips in one footprint left by his attacker. The foot size looked approximately equal in size to Lex's.

"Interesting," Lex murmured while rubbing the blood off of his chin. "You're not a monster. You're a man that turns into a monster."

Lex stood, turning as sirens echoed through the air. His cowl was torn, revealing half his face, so Lex took off into the air. Shouts echoed from the rescue personnel below but Lex didn't answer or turn around. He didn't want them to see his face. Fortunately the warehouse appeared to have been mostly empty or underutilized. There wasn't much under the building debris other than a few packing crates.

He flew straight to the Fortress. There was no knowing where his attacker had gone, not from Metropolis, but the Fortress' viewing equipment should enable him to track it fairly easily. He needed to know who and what this was. 'Dad' still echoed in the back of his mind.

"Lex!" Martha gasped when he flew in. "What in the world happened?"

"I was attacked," Lex said while pulling off his cowl. "I'm not sure who or what it was but it was quite… powerful. Can you pull up my activities from the last hour or so while I get cleaned up?"

"Of course." Martha nodded and headed to the control console. Lex had granted her full access shortly after Clark's restoration of Jor-El though she wasn't as competent at using the system as Clark was. "You go get clean, sweetie. You're a bit of a mess."

Lex looked down at his dust and blood covered suit with the many tears and laughed. A bit seemed like an understatement but that was Martha. On his way to his under used rooms in the Fortress Lex stopped by Clark's bedside.

"You're looking better," Lex murmured. "I wish you were back. I could use your help with this new assailant."

Clark's arms had slowly relaxed over the last couple of weeks. His skin was still black on his hands but the flesh had filled out enough that he no longer looked like a skeleton. His face had nearly returned to normal. He had some burns on his cheeks and forehead and his hair was too short but he looked asleep, not dead. Lex rested his fingertips gently against the force field protecting Clark. The progress bar on the scanner bed indicated he was about half done with his healing and resurrection.

"I'll be waiting," Lex promised in a low whisper. He patted the edge of the bed before leaving to get clean.

By the time he got back to the control room Jonathan was there, doing his awkward best to encourage Martha's tracking work as he had yet to figure out Kryptonian text. Martha looked frustrated, which made Lex frown. She had enough control over the system that she should have been able to track his assailant easily.

"What have you found?" Lex asked.

"Very little," Martha sighed. She glared at the display above the control panel. "The system isn't able to see whatever attacked you. It's like it's shielded somehow. I was able to follow its actions but only by tracking its effect on the world around you. I think that it might have been following you for quite some time prior to the attack, Lex. Look at this."

She twisted the control crystals and a series of strangely blurred images appeared. In every one he was doing something as Superman while the blurry spot watched. Lex frowned, taking over the controls so that he could verify her results. Despite his and Jor-El's best efforts they couldn't refine the image of the blur following Lex. It did seem to have followed him for quite some time, extending well before he'd put on the suit.

"This is disturbing," Lex murmured once he'd tracked the blur back years. "It's been watching me since my second year in college."

"Why would it suddenly start attacking you?" Jonathan wondered. "And what is it?"

"I don't know," Lex admitted. "It looked like a monster when it attacked me but its footsteps changed to a man's foot shortly after it disappeared."

Martha cocked her head, frowning. She worked the controls and brought up the tail end of Lex's fight with the creature. Lex winced as they watched the remnants of the warehouse collapse on top of him. He'd been totally helpless.

"You couldn't defend yourself here," Martha said. She pointed at the display while frowning more deeply. "It could have killed you easily, Lex. You were helpless and pinned. It could have attacked you and I don't doubt that it could have killed you if it's as fierce as you say. Why didn't it?"

Lex sighed, rubbing the scar on his bottom lip with his thumb. "That's the million dollar question. If we knew the answer to that I suspect we'd be a great deal closer to figuring out who or what it was."

+++++

Air cut into Clark's lungs as his body dragged a gasp into his body. The rattle that sounded from his throat was far more painful than normal. His chest quivered for a long few seconds while his body fought to muster the strength for another breath. Eventually it won and more air cut its way down his throat and into his lungs. A third breath followed the second, then a fourth. Each time the delay between breaths decreased.

Something was pounding in his ears, a ba-_dump_ that made him feel like the entire world was being struck by a giant mallet. It wasn't steady, sometimes managing six or seven rapid-fire thumps before faltering into little quivering thup-thup-thups that made his head swim. As the breathing steadied the thumping in his ears calmed too, steadying into a rhythmic pattern that he only recognized as his pulse afterwards.

Once his breathing and heartbeat stabilized Clark's entire body started twitching. He couldn't control it. Every single nerve and muscle appeared to have decided to go insane at once. Fire danced over his skin while knives stabbed into his muscles. It felt like he was being torn apart. The way his body convulsed and twitched upset his breathing and heartbeat, so Clark lost time to unconsciousness while the convulsions settled.

When he woke again, he hurt. Every single part of his body ached. Air didn't feel like razors going down his throat anymore but his mouth was so dry that it felt like leather. His throat was so parched that he didn't think he could make any noise. Someone appeared to have strapped weights to his eyelids because he literally couldn't open his eyes. They'd done it to his arms and legs too. They felt like they weighed ten million pounds.

An annoying beeping sound was the first outside sound that he was aware of. It had a crystalline tone, one that cut through his head like someone shoving an ice pick through his skull. Voices sounded near to him about the time the beeping shut off. He would have been relieved to be rid of the beeping but the voices made his head ring like it was a gong being pounded on by an overactive two-year-old.

"He's back!"

"Not yet, not quite. Give him some time, honey."

"Hey, I'm just glad he's breathing and has a heart beat again. It's been ages."

"I know."

"Hey, it's okay. He'll be all right."

"Why won't the field go down? I want to touch him! It's been a month. I want to touch my son again!"

"His body has not yet completed its restoration. Fluids are being supplied to re-hydrate his tissues. I anticipate that the resurrection process will be done within the next two hours."

"Two hours? That's forever!"

"My apologies but it would not be wise for me to interfere with the process. His body is more efficient at healing itself from this injury than my systems would be."

'The Fortress,' Clark thought. 'Mom and Dad. Jor-El? Where's Lex?'

He kept wondering where Lex was as Mom cried and Dad comforted her. He could hear them talking and moving around whichever room he'd been placed in. Jor-El commented from time to time, sounding far more reasonable and helpful than Clark remembered. Maybe his sacrifice had done some good.

He didn't hear Lex at all.

'I nearly died for real,' Clark thought about half an hour later.

He knew it was true. He didn't need Jor-El to tell him that or Lex or Mom and Dad. He could feel it. It was taking far too long for him to come back. Sure, he could hear and feel but he couldn't control his body. He was getting better rapidly. Whatever Jor-El was doing to supply fluids to his body was working, but it was barely enough. Every part of his body was shouting at him just how close he'd come to true death this time.

"How is he?"

Clark would have cried if he'd had any tears available. Lex, it was Lex, sounding urgent and worried and frightened and reassuring all at once. There had been a whoosh so maybe Lex had been away, taking care of his business when Clark came back to life. He felt a little childish that he'd wanted Lex right there when he first returned to consciousness. Better that he be there for Clark opening his eyes. It wouldn't be too much longer.

"He's nearly back," Mom said. Her voice still sounded like she was crying. "He needed a lot of fluid but he's nearly back."

"I think that darn progress bar is broken," Dad growled. "It's been stuck at the last step for at least a decade."

"Thank Rao he's okay," Lex breathed.

He was standing right next to Clark, off on his left side. Mom's sniffles were off on his right, along with Dad's grumbles. There was a tiny shimmering sound. Mom gasped. Her hands latched onto his right hand, clinging to it hard enough that he almost winced. Dad's hand rested on his shoulder, warm and gentle.

Lex's fingers just barely brushed against Clark's left hand. Clark opened his eyes and looked left.

"Wow," Clark whispered. His voice came out husky and weird but he grinned anyway. "Nice suit."

Lex was wearing something blue and skin-tight with a bright red cape and what looked like a cowl pushed back over his shoulders. His eyes were full of tears that Clark knew he'd deny later. The serious look that had greeted Clark faded quickly into a blush accompanied by a sly smirk.

"I thought you'd like it," Lex chuckled. "It does have your colors."

"Tight too," Clark whispered, grinning wider at the way the blush crept up over Lex's scalp. He almost laughed but his throat and chest weren't cooperating with a real laugh. Clark turned his head though it was almost more effort than it was worth. "Hey."

"Hey son," Dad said, grinning through tears that he wouldn't acknowledge either. "About time you woke up. You're missing all the excitement."

"Oh sweetie!" Mom cried. She flung her arms around his chest, hugging him while crying tears that Clark knew he'd hear about for the rest of his life, every single time he did something dangerous and stupid. "Thank God! Thank God you're back!"

"Mom…" Clark whined. "Come on, I'm hungry. And thirsty. And tired."

She laughed, letting him go and brushing her tears off of her cheeks with the back of one hand. Dad and Lex helped Clark sit up. He panted around the waves of pain that moving set off. The whole room was swimming by the time Clark slid his legs off of the side of the bed. Lex was there by his side for the three consecutive seconds that his legs held him up. They gave out immediately after that, dropping him into Lex's arms.

"Sorry Clark, you're just going to have to swallow your pride," Lex said. He chuckled at Clark's breathless grumble.

"'M fine," Clark panted.

"You're not even close to fine," Lex said.

He calmly scooped Clark up and carried him like a child to the kitchen. Mom was already there, poking crystalline buttons to create food for him to eat. Dad made sure a chair was ready for him and then they took turns helping Clark eat soup and that foamy drink and what tasted a lot like apple sauce except it was green instead of yellow. Sleep waylaid him between bites of something that tasted a lot like Mom's pie.

He woke, ate, slept and repeated for four days before he felt like himself again. The whole time Lex was in and out. Dad filled him in on the monster that kept attacking Lex. It had been dubbed Doomsday, which seemed a very appropriate name for the creature. Every time it showed up the surrounding area was destroyed. From what Clark could see on the monitors it was a terrible threat. The Fortress couldn't record the beast but human news crews had gotten several minutes of good video and lots of pictures of it had been taken.

"That thing is creepy," Clark said with a shudder.

"Agreed," Dad said. "Lex keeps fighting it but apparently it's got kryptonite in its blood so it's hard. He said during the first attack that it was mad about Lex attacking 'Dad'. We haven't been able to figure out who that is."

"Lionel!" Clark said, snapping his fingers. "When I was kidnapped there was this guy who everyone was afraid of. He said that I should be taken to see 'Father' and I ended up in Lionel's office. It has to be someone related to Lionel."

Dad looked at Clark with doubt and confusion in his eyes. Clark didn't blame him for being confused. It didn't make sense that Lionel would have kept Lex as his heir if he'd had another son somewhere in the wings but then most of what Lionel did didn't make sense. The monitors for the Fortress weren't able to view the young man who'd been in the tube when Clark had been taken. Interestingly, they weren't able to view the tubes at all.

"Those must have something to do with his powers," Clark said. "They took the various mutants and put them in the tubes. Then there's this one person who has powers very much like Lex's and he was in the tubes. How much do you want to bet that they drained the powers out of the mutants and then transferred it to whoever this guy is?"

"Why?" Dad asked, confused.

"To give him powers?" Clark suggested with a helpless shrug. "To make him… strong enough to stop Lex if he ever challenged Lionel!"

Clark's mind raced as he nodded while putting the pieces together. The system let him see exactly when the Fortress had been created. Doomsday had started shadowing Lex precisely four days after the Fortress went up. It didn't attack him until the first legal charges were filed against Lionel. It made sense.

"Lionel found someone or created someone to ensure that Lex couldn't stop him," Clark said once he was sure. Dad looked a little dazed from trying to follow Clark's rapid-fire work with the system. "He must have been giving whoever it is powers all along but it wasn't until Lex took the crystals that created this place that he decided Lex might be a threat."

"So he watched and reported back to Lionel," Dad said slowly. "And then once he made his choice and it was clear that he wasn't going to go back to behaving, then Lex got attacked. But why stop? Every single attack has stopped before the final blow."

"I don't know." Clark cocked his head and thought about it. He pulled up the data they had on the attacks. "It doesn't look like there's a time limit. None of the battles lasted the same amount of time. Maybe it's how hard they fight? The really viscous fights are much shorter than the ones where they don't fight as hard."

They bounced ideas back and forth for an hour or so before Lex returned. He was covered in mud from a mudslide rescue but he all but beamed at seeing Clark. Clark blushed. How Mom and Dad hadn't realized that Lex was interested in Clark he'd never know. It was kind of obvious, not that Clark really minded. He already knew that he liked Lex more than anyone else he'd ever met.

"I've been listening," Lex said while brushing the drying mud off of his cape, "and I think you might be right on both points. It makes sense to me that Lionel would have someone watching me. I always knew I was observed and that people were spying on me. I wish I knew what he looks like as a man though. I might be better able to anticipate these attacks."

"I could draw him," Clark offered. "I mean, I'm not the best artist in the world but I could try."

"Do." Lex nodded approval. "I'm going to go get cleaned up. I'll be right back."

He headed off into the Fortress, his red cape dimmed to brown because of the mud. Clark watched him go, blushing when Dad chuckled at him. Clark shrugged, fiddling with the controls to see if there was an art program he could use to create his drawing.

"You know," Dad said quietly, "we've always known that you were different, Clark."

Clark looked at him, confused. Dad was gazing into the Fortress, down the hallway that Lex had taken. He looked resigned, a little sad and mildly embarrassed. After a second he turned and looked straight into Clark's eyes.

"Smallville's a little town with little town attitudes," Dad went on. "It's not the only place in the world. There are a lot of places where the… friendship… you and Lex are developing wouldn't be a big deal. It's not something that I really approve of but you two are good for each other. Lex needs someone special and you certainly are that."

"Dad," Clark spluttered as he felt like he dropped something like two hundred IQ points, "Are you? Is that? _Dad!_"

"Just wait until you're older and _please_ keep it behind closed doors, Clark," Dad said as a ferocious blush stained his cheeks. "There are some things your old father doesn't need to see."

"Dad!" Clark whined. He thought his blush must be at least four times as bright as his father's.

Dad chuckled and patted Clark's shoulder before heading off into the Fortress to find Mom. Clark whined deep in his throat. That wasn't something that they had time for right now. Despite his efforts to push it away, Dad's approval glowed in his heart. It made it a lot easier to do the drawing. With Jor-El's assistance he ended up with something that looked a lot like the man Clark remembered. Lex took it and studied it but he didn't remember having seen the man before. Dad's approval remained in his mind at dinnertime when Clark decided it was time to push for their return home to the farm. They had to lure Doomsday out and Clark was the best bait possible, not that he phrased it that way.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Lex said. He was frowning so hard that he looked like a different person.

"Lex, we can't stay here forever," Clark countered. "We've been gone almost a month and a half now. That's plenty of time for a normal skull fracture to heal up. Lionel's been arrested. His company's being broken up. The men he sent against us are in jail."

"And Doomsday is still out there," Lex said. "You can't risk it."

"I'm the proper person to risk it!" Clark huffed and waved an arm. "You know that he's going to be looking for me. He's going to try and get at me. I can be there and you can stop him."

"No!" The objection came from Mom, Dad and Lex.

"There are ways that he can be protected while away from the Fortress," Jor-El offered. He didn't offer comments to their discussions very often but Clark thought that Jor-El felt a debt of gratitude to him for restoring him. "I can provide a personal protective shield that should keep him from severe damage until you arrive, my son."

"You're not helping," Lex growled.

They argued about it for another week but eventually Lex relented. All three of them got personal shields that looked like simple silver necklaces. They were adorned with the House of El symbol, which Clark thought was a little too revealing, but he kept it tucked away into his shirt. Mom wore hers openly, grinning when people questioned her on it. She told anyone who asked that it was a necklace she'd bought while they were gone. No one asked twice as Superman memorabilia had sprung up all over the place during their absence.

It was almost anticlimactic going back home. School hadn't changed at all. He still had precisely two friends, Chloe and Pete. The science club had completed two projects but they'd started more. Lana and Whitney were still an item, though Whitney was talking about joining the military. That wasn't going over well with Lana, though she claimed to understand his reasoning. LexCorp had stabilized and was a major job supplier in Smallville, bringing in needed money and industry.

Outside of Smallville the big news was Superman joining a group of other superheroes that included Batman, the Green Arrow, some kid who called himself the Flash and several others to form the Justice League. They continued the attacks on Lionel's illegal activities, saving a lot of people, including one man who became the hero Cyborg.

Doomsday's attacks on Superman went on, but only when he was alone. He never attacked when Lex was with other superheroes, which Clark found odd. It sent him back up to his loft and his computer to try and track down any information he could find. He missed the Fortress' system but bringing a link with him to it was a stupidly dangerous idea. He wouldn't do anything that risked Lex's safe place. Besides, Jor-El had kind of become a friend since his return to sanity.

"How's the head?" a surprisingly familiar voice asked from the door to the loft.

Clark gasped and whirled, staring at the smirking face of the man who'd been in the tube at LuthorCorp.

"It must be better by now," the man said. He sauntered into Clark's loft as if he owned it. "You wouldn't be back if it weren't. We wondered if you were special somehow but I guess you're not. Unless it's that brain of yours that is your mutation."

"Who are you?" Clark demanded. He bolted to his feet, glaring at the interloper in his hideout.

"Lucas," the man replied with another smirk. His eyes glowed green for a moment as he rocked up on his toes. "Lucas Luthor. Lionel's true heir. It's taken a while but I think I've finally found Lex's real weakness."

"What?" Clark asked. He shivered as the green glow returned and intensified in Lucas' eyes. "What are you talking about? What weakness?"

Lucas' chin dropped a little, transforming the smirk into something truly evil. He looked almost insane though entirely too much intelligence lurked in his eyes. Clark stepped back, gulping against the fear beating in his chest. Lucas laughed and waved one hand sardonically at Clark.

"You," Lucas breathed as if he was imparting the secrets of the universe. "You're his weakness, Clark."

+++++

"Wh-what do you mean?" Clark spluttered as he stared into Lucas' mad eyes. "I'm not anything to Lex."

Lucas threw his head back and laughed as if he was hugely amused by that claim. Clark used the opportunity to quickly back away from Lucas towards the door. There was a whoosh and Lucas was standing inches from his face, grinning maniacally. Heat radiated off of him in waves and his breath puffed against Clark's face like blasts from a furnace.

"Oh, but you are," Lucas said. His eyes glittered just like meteor rock illuminated by a powerful light. "He's so in love with you that it's pathetic. I always wondered about his bouts of sex and drugs. He seemed desperate to distract himself from his misery so that he wouldn't commit suicide or murder but then he meets you and… poof! No drugs, no sex, nothing but hard-working, upstanding Alexander Luthor. It was quite bizarre, really."

He leaned close enough to kiss Clark as he spoke. Clark shuddered and back-pedaled until he ran into the Wall of Weird and its many pictures of Lex. Lucas followed him smoothly, still grinning. The glow of his eyes intensified until it almost looked like they were shooting out neon green beams. His face seemed to be changing too, becoming darker, rougher. His skin darkened to a rough grey that no longer looked human.

"It wasn't until Father kidnapped you that I figured it out," Lucas said. His voice was rougher and he was getting taller by the second. "He's in love with you. And more importantly, you're in love with him and he knows it."

"I am not," Clark protested. His protest sounded weak to his own ears, much less to Lucas' as he snickered. Clark's face flamed blazingly red that he was that obvious, though if Dad had figured it out it must be obvious. "Besides, what does that matter? That doesn't make me a weakness. Love makes you stronger."

Lucas threw back his head and laughed long and hard. The transformation sped up as he roared with laughter. Soon he towered over Clark. His shirt tore apart at the shoulders and sleeves. His pants tore too, but he had some sort of super stretchy underwear underneath so he didn't end up naked. Spikes sprouted along his arms and shoulders, and on the back of his head.

"Fool," Lucas said in Doomsday's terrifyingly gravelly voice. "Love makes you weaker. It gives you vulnerabilities that people can exploit. Like I'm going to exploit you, Clark."

"No!" Clark shouted.

He ran for the door, determined to do his best not to be used against Lex. He knew there was no way to get away. He knew. Lucas was too fast as a human and as Doomsday it was completely impossible. Clark barely got two steps before Doomsday's huge hand wrapped around his neck from behind, hauling him back and throwing him across the room.

Clark cried out when he landed but he rolled so that he wouldn't be hurt by the impact. It was a very good thing that he did roll because Doomsday's fist slammed into the floor right where Clark's ribcage had been. The laughter coming from Doomsday's mouth was maniacal at best and utterly terrifying at worst. He kept trying to escape but Doomsday's fists blocked him at every turn. His struggles ended as abruptly as they'd begun.

"Got you," Doomsday chuckled as he finally grabbed Clark around the neck again. "Nice try, Clark but you're no challenge. You're just bait. Highly successful bait, I might add."

"No!" Clark gasped around the hand slowly tightening around his neck. "Don't! Stay… away… Lex!"

Spots danced in front of Clark's eyes. Air wasn't getting past Doomsday's grip around his neck. Clark barely heard Lex's shout when he crashed through the door of the loft. What he noticed was the sudden removal of Doomsday's grip around his throat and the return of air.

"Clark, get out of here!" Lex ordered in the fiercest tone of voice Clark had ever heard.

Clark looked up and froze, staring at the struggle in front of him. Lex's hands were locked around Doomsday's wrists, which explained how Clark had been freed. Doomsday was growling fiercely and his eyes were still glowing brightly, though less brightly than they had been initially. A part of Clark's brain immediately started charting out the rise and fall of the light as a possible indicator of how long Doomsday could stay in this form. The rest of Clark's mind went to telling Lex what he'd just learned. Running wasn't an option at all.

"Lucas," Clark gasped around the rapidly fading bruises decorating his throat. "He's Lucas Luthor, Lionel's other son."

"Shut up!" Doomsday growled.

He broke loose from Lex's grip. One huge hand swung faster than Clark could see like a blade aimed straight at Clark's neck. Lex's shout nearly drowned out the sickening crack that came from Clark's neck as Doomsday connected. Clark's body gave way underneath him. His sight faded. Death swept over him again. All Clark could do was pray in the last seconds before he died that Lex would win the fight. He didn't want to come back to a world without Lex and Superman in it.

+++++

"Clark!" Lex's heart nearly stopped when Clark's body collapsed to the floor. He flopped and laid still, his heart and breathing gone once again.

Doomsday let loose a harsh bray of laughter. Lex glared at him, fighting down the fury that demanded Doomsday die for what he'd just done. Clark wasn't dead. He would come back. This wasn't the end, no matter what Doomsday thought. Unfortunately this would reveal Clark's mutation to Doomsday and by extension Lionel. It couldn't be helped. It was too late. Crossing the line into murder wouldn't accomplish anything. The litany didn't help dim the pain and fury beating at Lex's heart.

"Weakness, Lex," Doomsday growled at him with a superior smirk on his lips. "I knew I'd found your weakness. Love makes you weak. Father taught you that. The nice thing is that I get to kill him again and again and again while you watch."

They knew. Lex's temper snapped. He charged into Doomsday, tackling him hard enough to knock both of them through the outer wall of the barn. They went right over Clark's fallen body and kept on going. Flight was something that Doomsday didn't seem to have so Lex used it against him while raining blows onto his enemy.

Doomsday could react nearly as fast as Lex but while they were in flight he didn't have the leverage to be able to attack Lex effectively. They zoomed over the fields of Smallville and out into the countryside where no one could be hurt. Doomsday growled as he rained blows onto Lex. His spikes tore at Lex's uniform and skin, cutting him the way nothing else on Earth could.

"Weakling!" Doomsday shouted as Lex connected with a blow that fractured ribs.

"You'll never touch him again!" Lex promised.

The laughter that erupted from Doomsday's lips was twice as offensive because Lex knew that his promise couldn't be kept. There was no way he could protect Clark forever. There were simply too many threats and no one else could fight Doomsday effectively. Batman had come up with some interesting ideas but none of them had been effective. Green Arrow had tried but Doomsday did his disappearing thing.

The glow in Doomsday's eyes was fading rapidly but his body was still the monster's, not the man's. Lex flew higher into the air, going straight for the stratosphere in an attempt to hold onto Doomsday long enough to be able to capture him in his human form. It wasn't easy. Doomsday struggled and then kicked Lex in the stomach so hard that he saw spots for a moment.

"You can't keep me!" Doomsday shouted. "You'll never be able to hold me, Lex!"

A knee slammed into Lex's stomach again at the same time that Doomsday pounded his fist into Lex's back. Lex cried out and lost his grip. Doomsday shoved hard and broke free from Lex's hold. He fell back to the earth laughing. Lex wavered for a moment and then dove after him, panting from the pain of his injuries. Just before Lex could catch Doomsday again he shimmered and was gone.

"Fuck!" Lex swore. He paused in midair, scanning the area while listening intently for any signs of Doomsday's presence. Nothing. "Damn it."

Clark's heart hadn't started up again so Lex went up beyond the atmosphere to soak in the unfiltered sunshine that sustained him so well. It took only a few seconds for his injuries to begin to heal and after a minute he was back to normal, though yet another suit was trashed. Lex flew back down and allowed a relieved smile to creep across his lips. The heartbeat that had come to define his life had returned.

"How are you doing?" Lex asked once he'd flown back to the broken barn where Clark lay.

"Ow?" Clark said, rubbing his neck as he gingerly sat up. "Yeah, ow. Did you get him?"

"No, he can teleport," Lex said. "I need to go. Your father's coming in from the fields. Will you be okay?"

"Yeah, go on," Clark said, patting Lex's arm. "We can talk later. Come back when you get the chance."

Lex nodded and flew away quickly. He replaced the suit with a fresh one and then went on patrol. Batman contacted him halfway through the patrol, asking what had happened. He promised to look into the identity of 'Lucas Luthor' as a possible secret identity for Doomsday. Throughout the patrol Lex found no signs of Doomsday or anyone watching him.

Lex didn't make it back to the farm until well after midnight. Clark and Jonathan had put up a tarp over the hole in the wall. Lex made a mental note to help them fix it tomorrow if he could get away. If nothing else he could send some boards for them to use to repair it. Lex had broken it after all. The lights were still on inside the farmhouse so Lex headed up on the porch, knocking somewhat hesitantly.

"Come in," Clark called.

"Shouldn't you be in bed?" Lex asked.

"Couldn't sleep," Clark said with a shrug as he tapped away on his laptop. He'd set it up on the kitchen counter and had surrounded himself with a slice of Martha's pie, a big glass of milk and a plate of cookies. "I haven't been able to find anything about a Lucas Luthor but there is a Lucas Dunleavy who is associated with LuthorCorp."

"Hmm," Lex murmured as he read over Clark's shoulder. It still amazed him that they read at nearly the same rate. "Interesting. My father claimed that his lover Rachel Dunleavy had left him. I'd say that things went rather differently than I was told."

Clark snorted and nodded. He took a cookie and offered it to Lex. Lex smiled, taking it and eating it slowly. Clark ate his as if his mind was a million miles away. The bruises around his neck were long gone. When Lex scanned, there was no sign of the broken neck Doomsday had inflicted on Clark. It was as if it had never happened but the way that Clark avoided meeting Lex's eyes made it clear that what Doomsday had said was never going to be forgotten.

"You need an ally," Clark announced just as Lex started trying to convince himself to leave and not come back. "Seriously. Doomsday's too fast and strong for you to take on by yourself. You need someone who can match you so that you're not fighting alone."

"Unfortunately there isn't anyone like that," Lex sighed. "If my cousin Kara had come to Earth then there would be but she didn't."

"Who?" Clark asked.

He turned to stare into Lex's eyes. The surprised curiosity changed to innocent lust and embarrassment almost instantly, coloring Clark's face a brilliant shade of red. Lex chuckled at the blush while shrugging at the question.

"I had a cousin," Lex explained without acknowledging either Clark's brilliant blush or his own slight one. "Her father was my father's twin brother. Kara Zor-El. She was supposed to come to Earth with me, to help protect me. She was a teenager just a bit older than you when we left. Or more accurately when I left. She obviously didn't come with me or Lionel would never have had me or been able to keep me for so long."

Clark cocked his head to the side. The blush faded as the wheels visibly started turning behind his eyes. "Are you sure she didn't come?"

Lex opened his mouth to deny the possibility but he had to close it. He'd never verified with Jor-El if she had been sent. He'd never dared to ask. It had been such a betrayal when he was younger that she hadn't been there to protect him that he'd been too hurt to make the loss permanent. Clark nodded slowly as he saw Lex hesitate.

"Maybe she's trapped somewhere too," Clark suggested. "Maybe she was sent but she wasn't able to help. She could be in danger just like you were, you know."

"Let's go check with Jor-El," Lex said. He had to force the words through a throat that tried to close up on him at the thought of Kara going through anything like what he'd been through.

+++++

"Kara Zor-El was sent to Earth at the same time that you were, my son," Jor-El intoned once they'd gotten to the Fortress.

"Then where is she?" Lex asked.

Clark put a hand on Lex's back, burying his fingers in the silky fabric of Lex's cape. Lex looked like he'd just been hit harder than Doomsday's worst strike. His face went so pale that Clark was a little worried about him. The betrayal and loss that Lex had tried to hide when he'd spoken about Kara earlier had been bad enough but to see this pain made Clark want to hug him.

"…I do not know." Jor-El's voice was far too quiet and gentle. "Her ship was struck during the landing sequence and damaged. I believe that the stasis system is still intact but I cannot locate her ship. I have tried to do so many times since I was restored and Doomsday revealed himself. The tracking beacon is no longer functioning and the engines are shut down."

"So," Clark said a little hesitantly, "her ship's working on battery power, right? How long will the stasis system work on battery power?"

"Not much longer," Jor-El said. "I would estimate that she has no more than a month left before she will die in stasis, if that much."

Lex staggered again, leaning into Clark's side. This time Clark did pull him into a hug that Lex returned desperately. His shoulders were shaking with emotion that Clark thought he couldn't express. Clark breathed in the strange scent of Lex's Superman suit mixed with his unique aroma and then let his breath out slowly. When he pulled back Lex's face was a little red. The front of his suit was a little tight too, which Clark first stared at and then decided to completely ignore.

"Jor-El, can you call up the recordings on the meteor shower?" Clark asked. "Maybe we can figure out her trajectory and extrapolate where she landed."

"I have attempted to do that," Jor-El said. The recordings of the meteor shower appeared over the control console.

"Yes, but you did it without me," Clark said with he hoped enough bravado to make Lex laugh.

Lex chuckled, standing behind Clark at the control console. "Confidence is good but don't get cocky, Clark."

"Who's being cocky?" Clark asked with a grin over his shoulder at Lex. "Jor-El was a person but he's a program now. His thinking is limited by his programming. Mine isn't. It might make all the difference."

It did make a difference. Between the three of them they were able to track the trajectories of both Lex and Kara's ships as they landed years ago. Lex's ship had been struck by a meteor and driven into the field where Lionel had found him. Kara's ship had also been struck, but in her case it happened three times.

The first strike took out the tracking beacon but Lex was able to see which direction her ship went. The second strike took out her engines at the same time that it sent her in the opposite direction from Lex. The third strike was from a very large meteor and that one drove her into the river just above where the dam was eventually built.

"That would do it," Lex breathed as Clark narrowed down the area to search to a few hundred square yards at the bottom of the reservoir. "That last meteor strike probably drove her deep into the mud. The security system wouldn't let her out because of the threat of drowning."

"Can you locate her with X-ray vision?" Clark asked.

"Yes, I should be able to," Lex said.

His expression had gone from devastated to hopeful and excited. Clark could really see the boy Kal-El in him. They shared a grin and then Lex carried Clark back to Smallville. Between the excitement thrumming through Clark and Lex's rapid flight through the darkening skies Clark felt like he could barely breathe. He really hoped that Kara would be okay once they got her ship out. Her loss might break Lex.

The park alongside the reservoir was quiet and still once they got there. Clark waited on shore as Lex first scanned the lake and then dove into the water. Lex was under water for long enough that Clark started to get nervous. His mind supplied scenario after scenario, each escalating in destruction and despair. Kara couldn't be dead. She couldn't! Lex needed her. Heck, the whole world needed her if it was going to survive Doomsday.

Just when Clark was starting to imagine that the security system on her ship had remained active enough to attack and kill Lex the surface of the water started roiling. At first it was a series of bubbles but they quickly grew until the surface heaved and then drained away from a large dark object. After a couple of endless seconds Lex appeared underneath the object. He was covered with mud. Even in the darkness Clark could see Lex's triumphant smile.

"You did it!" Clark said, doing his best not to cheer. He didn't want the sound to carry over the water to anyone else.

Lex's chuckle sounded like bells from heaven to Clark. He flew Kara's ship to shore, carefully setting it down so that they could get Kara out. The ship showed few signs of the meteor strikes that had incapacitated it and trapped Kara for so long. Clark ran a hand over the surface, surprised that it wasn't as muddy as Lex. The surface felt strange, almost alive. There were two spots on his side that had divots, as if someone had hammered on the hull and dented it.

"Is she alive?" Clark asked Lex.

"I don't know," Lex admitted. "The ship is impervious to my sight. Stand back. She's liable to be ah, excited when I let her out. She said something about finding me right away."

Clark moved back until he was several yards from the ship and Lex. He didn't think that it would do any good if Kara became violent. Kryptonians moved too quickly for that. But it would let him watch what happened without getting in the way. Lex's body hid whatever he did to open the spaceship. It looked to Clark like he simply rested his hand on a particular spot on the damaged ship. One second passed, then a second. Lex's shoulders tightened along with Clark's stomach. Clark bit his lip as several more seconds passed without anything happening.

Without any warning the dark ship suddenly shone from within. Light poured through a crack that appeared on the hull. It rapidly widened. The light that poured out concealed Kara by blinding Clark. He put up a hand in an attempt to shade his eyes enough to be able to see what was happening. It didn't do much good but Clark was able to make out the shape of a woman sitting up, surrounded by light that hid everything about her.

"Kara," Lex breathed.

+++++

Lex's heart pounded against his chest as Kara's ship opened. She had to be all right. She had to! After waiting for her so long he didn't think that he'd be able to endure it if she'd died in stasis without ever seeing the Earth. The blatant unfairness of that thought made him feel ill.

Light blazed out of Kara's ship. It wasn't bright enough to blind him given his abilities but it did obscure Kara's face. It felt like several eternities before the stasis field disengaged. The two seconds before Kara took her first breath on Earth lasted at least five years.

"Kara," Lex breathed as Kara gasped and abruptly sat up.

The light faded as rapidly as it had appeared. Kara blinked at Lex, frowning intently at him. He could literally see the moment when she realized who he was. Her confused frown transformed into almost tragic dismay as she surged forward and grabbed his shoulders.

"Kal? Oh Rao, what happened? Why are you so old?" Kara asked in Kryptonian, shaking his shoulders gently.

"It's a long story, Kara," Kal laughed through the tears that welled up. "Such a long story. I have an enemy I can't defeat and I'm afraid that there's no time to explain right now. We need to get away from here with your ship--"

"Who's that?" Kara snapped. She glared over Kal's shoulder at Clark as if he was a terrible threat to them.

Lex laughed and caught her before she could attack Clark. Her travel suit was an appropriately Kara-like outfit with just a tank top and simple short skirt in the family colors. It felt odd to have her in his arms instead of being small enough for her to hold easily.

"That's Clark Kent," Lex said as he smiled over his shoulder at Clark. Clark beamed back at him, coming a hesitant step closer to them. "He's… special. He's been helping me with everything."

"Your brother?" Kara asked. She paused, raising an eyebrow at Lex's blush and then looking at Clark's start and shuffling feet. "Wow, not really a brother at all, is he? I didn't think you had incest in you, little cousin."

"It's not incest!" Clark protested. "We haven't done anything. Besides, we're not brothers. Lex, Kal didn't grow up with the Kents. That's part of why we really need to get moving. The man who did raise him is evil and he's trying to control Lex so that he can take over the world."

"What?" Kara snapped.

She hovered as if she was going to fly off and pound Lionel into the ground. Lex caught her, pulling her back down to the earth and held her there so that she wouldn't fly away and slow them down even more. Her glare didn't faze him, not after everything he'd gone through with Lionel and Doomsday.

"It's a very long story," Lex repeated. "I've raised the Fortress so we do have a safe place to talk. We need to get your ship to the Fortress and make sure that you're okay, Kara. Once we're there we can have a'chaan and I'll explain everything."

"Well, as long as there's a'chaan," Kara said as if she was reluctant. Her suddenly eager expression made it perfectly clear that she was anything but reluctant to go to the Fortress. "Can he fly or something?"

"No," Lex said, shaking his head. "I'll have to carry him. Can you carry your ship? The engines were destroyed during the meteor shower when you were hit."

Kara nodded. The flight back to the Fortress was slower than normal due to Kara's having to maneuver her spaceship. She didn't seem to mind it if her grin was anything to judge by. Lex got the feeling that her new flying, strength and speed delighted her. Obviously the time she'd spent soaking up artificial yellow sunlight during stasis had done her a world of good.

Once they'd given Kara's spaceship over to Jor-El for repairs, Lex led the way to the kitchen area. Kara watched Clark as if she expected him to either leap on Lex or run away screaming. Clark watched her with obvious fascination. Lex could almost see the questions hovering on the tip of Clark's tongue.

"So what happened?" Kara asked once they'd all gotten mugs of hot a'chaan and settled in at the table.

Lex hesitated with his mouth open and no words coming out until Clark put a gentle hand on his arm. His expression was sympathetic and supportive, which gave Lex the strength to start explaining. Kara shattered her mug of a'chaan when she found out that someone other than the Kents had found Lex. She didn't bother replacing it as Lex forged on, telling her the general outlines of his life with Lionel Luthor. By the time he reached Lucas, Doomsday and the present threat her eyes were flashing red from sheer rage.

"That…! That…! That…!" Kara spluttered for a moment.

She surged to her feet and started pacing while cursing like a soldier in Kryptonian, Thanagarian, and Martian. The way that Clark's eyes went wide and then very narrow while his lips started moving made Lex think he was trying to memorize Kara's swear words. Lex laughed very quietly. It took several minutes of swearing for Kara to realize that Lex was laughing at her.

"This isn't funny, Kal!" Kara snapped at him. "He abused you terribly and he has to pay for it, preferably with his life."

"No, not with his life," Lex said gravely. "I won't fall to General Zod's level."

Kara flinched and stilled at last. She sighed as she sat back down at the table with them. Clark's head swiveled back and forth as he frowned at them in turn. There wasn't any short explanation of General Zod and his horrible effects on Krypton so Lex ignored the question in Clark's eyes. There would be time to explain it later.

"I…" Kara's voice trailed off.

Lex smiled at her. "Don't worry about it. It's all right. We need to stop him. He most certainly does need to pay for all of his crimes, not just the ones against me, but it won't be with is life, not at my hand."

"You've gotten so strong," Kara said with wonder in her eyes.

"I had to be strong." Lex shrugged her respect away.

Clark put his hand over Lex's, squeezing his fingers. That did more than anything else towards undoing his carefully kept control on his emotions. Lex smiled at him, quite aware that it was far too weak of a smile. Kara's eyes moved from Lex to Clark as she considered the two of them. After a second she made a tiny little shrug.

"So what are we going to do?" Kara asked.

"I was thinking about that," Clark said. "We need to create an identity for Kara. Why doesn't she become my long-lost cousin? Then she'll be right there when Doomsday comes after me again."

"I'd prefer that you weren't in danger again," Lex said unhappily.

"That's not going to happen unless I stay right here," Clark snorted. "You know that he'll keep targeting me until he gets me. I can't spend the rest of my life hiding in the Fortress, Lex. We have to stop Doomsday and deal with Lionel or none of our lives will be worth living."

Lex sighed and nodded. He was right. There was no way to keep Clark completely safe short of wrapping him up and keeping him away from the world entirely. Clark would never accept that and Lex knew that he wouldn't be happy that way.

"So if I'm going to be your cousin," Kara said thoughtfully, "then when Doomsday attacks he'll be surprised and we'll be able to team up and beat him, right?"

"Exactly," Clark said with a big grin. "The key thing will be making sure that he doesn't realize that you've got powers. You'll have to pretend to be just a human."

"Eww," Kara said, wrinkling her nose at that thought. "That's going to be a stretch. No flying or anything?"

"Not at all," Lex said, backing Clark up. "Doomsday has all of our powers except flight, plus other powers that we don't have. It's only for a little while. Once Doomsday's stopped then you'll be able to act more openly."

Kara sighed, making another face at the idea of hiding in plain sight. It took several more rounds of discussion and Lex making a blatant emotional appeal to her before Kara would agree to completely forgo using all of her powers, including even X-ray vision. She pouted about it even then. Setting up an identity for her took all of three minutes for Jor-El.

"So I'm from Australia," Kara said thoughtfully as she studied the various identity papers that Jor-El had generated for her. "Cool. Isn't that the place with the funny hopping marsupials and really huge reef system?"

"Yes," Lex said amused. "Though there is a great deal more there than just that."

"Hmm, Uncle Jor-El, set up a training segment on Australia, in particular the area I'm supposed to have come from," Kara said thoughtfully. "I want to be prepared if anyone asks me questions about my 'home'."

"Done," Jor-El said. "Please step into the light, Kara."

She did and was enveloped by a rush of light and sound that conveyed the information on Australia to her at a highly accelerated rate. Clark watched for a second with wide eyes. He turned to Lex frowning.

"Is she reliable?" Clark asked very quietly.

"She's impulsive and a little arrogant," Lex said equally quietly, "but she's my cousin, my last living relative. She gave up everything to come with me, Clark. She was going to raise me, you know. It wasn't that she was going to be my cousin and just let me do whatever. She fully intended to raise me as if I was her own child, as much as she could. It will work out."

"Hope so," Clark sighed. "Because I suspect that she's going to drive me crazy very quickly."

Lex laughed, patting Clark's back. She was a little more annoying than he'd remembered but Lex put that down to the fact that she'd lost so much time. His abuse probably had a lot to do with her bad attitude. Kara was fiercely protective of him so she was probably taking what Lionel had done to him as a personal failure.

Once Lionel and Doomsday were dealt with he expected that the flirty, fun, outrageous Kara that he remembered from Krypton would reemerge. He was looking forward to it. Having Kara back was a dream come true. After all the losses in his life it was nice to finally win something that mattered to him back.

+++++

"So what are you doing?" Kara asked from the door of Clark's loft.

"Fixing the wall," Clark said with a little shrug. "Doomsday knocked a big hole through it."

"Need any help?"

Clark turned and looked at Kara curiously. She'd fit into their family fairly smoothly despite her attitudes about humanity. He thought that she put Mom and Dad at a higher level than she did everyone else, though Chloe seemed to have elevated herself to more than 'a mere human' somehow. Despite that, she'd held back from talking to or helping Clark out with things.

"Sure," Clark said, nodding a little hesitantly at her. "If you could hold the other end of the board that would be great."

"That's easy enough," Kara said. She moved to take the other end of the board that Clark had been working to attach above the new window, holding it in place easily. "Why do you hang out up here?"

"It's quiet," Clark said as he carefully hammered the board into place. "It's a place that's just for me. Mom and Dad said that I could do anything I wanted up here, decorate it however I wished. I don't get to do that in my room. Well, it's your room now but you get what I mean, right?"

Kara nodded and then cocked her head to the side with a frown that said no, she really didn't get it. She took the hammer and secured the other end of the board. They worked in silence for a little while; finishing up all the siding that Clark had left to restore his loft. Once they were done and Clark was sweeping up the sawdust she sighed.

"I guess having your own place would be good," Kara commented.

"I think so," Clark said. "It's not that I hate being around people. I just think so fast that sometimes its nice to have a place where I can go and not have to slow down to their speed. Makes it easier not to get frustrated when my friends and teachers can't keep up."

"They are kind of slow," Kara said with a wry smile.

"Hardly anyone thinks as fast as we do," Clark said and shrugged. He let a wry smile stretch his lips too. The fact that Kara was as smart as Clark had been one of the clinchers for the people in town accepting her as his long-lost cousin. There was no resemblance after all.

Clark took the hammer and leftover nails back downstairs. Kara followed him with the broom and dustpan. She still had that thoughtful expression on her face, as if she was thinking deep thoughts or maybe pondering which flirty skirt to wear to school to distract Whitney from Lana.

"I wonder if she's like you," Lucas said from the big double doors at the end of the barn.

"Lucas!" Clark gasped and whirled to stare at him. "Go away!"

Lucas laughed, sauntering closer. He eyed Kara's short skirt appreciatively before locking his eyes on Clark again. His eyes glowed faintly in the darkness of the barn, tinting his features green. Kara moved to flank Clark with a defiant glare on her face.

"We both know that's not going to happen," Lucas said. "I can hear Lex on his way here but he won't get here in time. I think I'll have just enough time to kill you and then kidnap your cousin. She'd be a lot of fun to play with and I know Lex. He'll be more focused on you than your cute little cousin. I wonder if I can get her pregnant before Lex saves her. I think that would be an appropriate punishment for Lex letting Father be thrown in jail."

"Oh as if," Kara snarled. "You touch me and I'll rip your dick off!"

"Lucas, don't," Clark warned him. "Don't do this."

The laughter this time was far more maniacal. Lucas threw his head back and laughed as if their words were the funniest jokes he'd ever heard. Clark didn't see the first move he made. One second he was halfway across the barn and the next Kara was between them, shoving Lucas back and hammering a fist into his face.

"What the hell?" Lucas breathed as he staggered backwards. A trickle of blood ran down his chin. He wiped it away, looked at the blood on his fingers, and then glared at Kara. "Obviously I should have paid closer attention to you, little girl."

His body abruptly shifted and grew into Doomsday's monster form. The first time it had happened it had been slow. This time the shift was so fast that it was over in less than three seconds. Clark ran out of the barn, trusting Kara to block Doomsday and keep him from killing him immediately.

Doomsday shouted something hostile and garbled behind Clark. He didn't listen. Clark ran as hard as he could out into the fields, away from the house and barn. A huge splintering crash made him stumble and turn to look. Doomsday and Kara had crashed through the side of the barn, leaving yet another hole to repair. Doomsday glared at Clark and his sleeve caught on fire.

"Leave him alone, you creep!" Kara yelled.

Clark batted out the flames and kept running. The longer they could string this battle out the better it would be. Doomsday's power was limited. He knew that. Lucas could only stay in his invulnerable Doomsday form for a limited amount of time. The longer they made him fight the more likely it would be that they could capture him. Besides, Lex wasn't there yet.

Kara grunted as Doomsday smashed a fist into her. Clark ran harder, heading for the tree line on the far side of the pasture. Two whooshes sounded behind him so Clark dove to the left, tumbling through the grass and over a cow patty that squashed underneath him. The wet spot on the back of his shirt didn't stop him from rolling back to his feet and heading in a different direction in a desperate attempt to keep Doomsday from grabbing him.

"You can't escape me!" Doomsday bellowed.

"Coward!" Kara yelled.

"Clark!"

Clark looked up and then he was flying to the right in Lex's arms. Doomsday was right behind them, running at super speed to try and catch them. Kara was flying right behind him. Her expression looked grimly determined, as if she were going to catch and kill Doomsday if it was the last thing she ever did.

"Don't save me," Clark said, shoving at Lex's shoulder. "Stop him! Help Kara!"

Lex opened his mouth to object but Clark pressed his lips against Lex's mouth in a lightning quick kiss that made his whole body light up despite, or perhaps because of, the danger. A violent blush swept over Lex's face and he nodded. Just as Kara managed to tackle Doomsday Lex set Clark down and turned to fight. Clark stumbled and fell on his rear end as the sudden deceleration threw him off balance. It gave him a wonderful view of the battle, not that he could see most of the blows.

"Ahh!" Clark gasped as he covered his ears.

The blows that Kara, Lex and Doomsday exchanged were so fast that they set off sonic booms. Clark blessed his healing as the sounds battered his ears. Anyone else this close to the battle would probably have lost their hearing.

Doomsday raged at them, using the crystal projections on his arms like knives or claws. Lex took the blows for the most part, using his greater strength to immobilize Doomsday's arms so that Kara could pound on him. The green glow in Doomsday's eyes rose into twin blazes of light and then rapidly faded until his eyes looked almost normal.

"Let go!" Doomsday shouted.

His voice sounded more like Lucas' than Doomsday's. Clark got up clutching a rock as if it would allow him to protect himself, mentally calculating out how soon Doomsday would be gone and they'd only have Lucas Luthor to deal with. It wouldn't be very long. Doomsday gave a huge shrug, throwing Lex off and away. Lex plowed into the earth and sent up a huge wave of dirt and grass. Kara took the chance to kick Doomsday in the face but all that happened was Doomsday grabbing her ankle and flinging her away to create a similar trench to Lex's.

"You," Doomsday growled, glaring at Clark.

"Forty-seven seconds," Clark said, looking at Doomsday as his skin faded back to flesh color and the spikes slowly receded into his body. "Thirty-two. Thirty-one. Thirty."

"Fuck!"

Lucas glared at Clark as his body shrank back down, leaving him naked other than his dark gray underwear. He moved towards Clark but froze when Lex rolled out of his trench coughing and Kara started cursing from her trench. Clark counted the seconds past fifteen and down towards zero, wondering what happened when Lucas ran out of power.

"Fuck!" Lucas repeated.

His eyes were a little wide though Clark barely had the time to notice that before Lex and Kara launched themselves at Lucas as if they were guided missiles. Lucas glimmered, sparkling green lights suddenly appearing around him. His eyes were locked on Lex and Kara as they approached so Clark flung his rock at Lucas. The rock hit Lucas in the back of the head, disrupting the sparkles. He made a startled noise just before Lex slammed into him at full speed.

Lex and Lucas smashed into the field. Lucas rained blows on Lex with a desperate expression. Kara kicked him in the jaw as the sparkles reappeared. The kick snapped Lucas' head around and he slumped unconscious in Lex's arms. The sparkles disappeared again.

For a long moment the whole world seemed frozen. Clark held his breath, waiting for Lucas to move, to attack, to try and kill him, Lex and Kara again. A gust of wind scurried through the pasture, stirring Kara's hair and Lex's tattered cape.

"He's unconscious," Lex said. He stared down at Lucas with shock in his eyes.

"About damned time," Kara grumbled. "So how do you want to keep him from getting away again? He's really tough to fight."

"I think I might have an idea about that," Clark offered as he carefully walked closer. "I was watching how his power rises and falls. I think that Jor-El and I might be able to come up with something that disrupts it. Or maybe Jor-El will have something that we can use in the Fortress if my idea doesn't work."

"I say we just chuck him in the Phantom Zone and be done with it," Kara huffed.

The shock on Lex's face faded into something that looked kind of like glee mixed with shuddery relief as Lex threw Lucas over his shoulder. Clark started laughing, grinning at Lex and Kara. Lex laughed quietly. Kara looked at them like they were crazy for a second before throwing up her hands in disgust.

"Well," Lex said, "let's go check in with Jor-El."

"Can we get on with this?" Kara demanded. "My favorite show's about to come on and I don't want to have this creep interrupt it!"

"If you'll give me a lift to the Fortress," Clark said to her while grinning so widely that his face hurt, "I'll do my best to make sure he never bothers anyone again."

"Deal," Kara said, gesturing for him to come over.

+++++

The flight to the Fortress was the fastest that Lex had ever made with a passenger but it still seemed entirely too long. Kara trailed behind him with Clark in her arms. Lex was desperately aware of every twitch of Lucas' body though most of it seemed to be from the wind rather than Lucas waking up again.

"Jor-El!" Clark shouted the instant they were inside. "We have Lucas but I need to get something that will disrupt the way power builds and disperses inside of his body."

Kara set him down and Clark ran from her to the control panel. He started murmuring something to Jor-El about harmonic frequencies and bioelectric generation. Jor-El answered him with questions about the resonate qualities of kryptonite and the way it built up in human bodies. Lex landed, dropping Lucas to the floor where both he and Kara could keep an eye on him.

"Does that make sense to you?" Kara asked with her head cocked to the side.

"Vaguely," Lex admitted quietly. "I focused far more on chemistry than I did on physics so most of it doesn't make all that much sense."

"He's smarter than us," Kara whispered. Her eyes were huge when she turned to look at him. "Seriously, little cousin. He's way smarter than us. I've been watching. He learns literally anything that he turns his attention to as quickly as he wants to."

"It's Clark," Lex said, smiling proudly. "He'll do whatever it takes to keep the world safe."

A grin spread across Kara's face as she laughed and hugged him. Lex smiled and hugged her back, wrapping one arm around her waist. It felt far too good to have his cousin back at last. A tiny part of him that he was keeping firmly suppressed kept shouting at him that he couldn't let himself get attached because it would hurt too much when she was taken away. Kara leaned close to whisper in his ear.

"It's to keep you safe, little cousin," Kara murmured. "The world gets the benefit but its all for you. I'm glad. You deserve someone who is that dedicated to you."

Lex blushed so hard that he could feel the heat creeping down under his torn suit. He let Kara go, which made her laugh at him. Lucas twitched slightly, cutting their laughter off instantly. They both went on alert but Lucas didn't twitch again so it must have been nothing more than a reflex. Clark crowed over at the control panel as he pushed one of the crystals to trigger something to be manufactured.

"All right," Clark said as he took the device that Jor-El had created for him, "this won't stop him totally, I'm afraid. We're not completely sure that this will be effective. It should make it impossible for him to generate the energy that lets him transform but he'll still have his base powers, which does include teleportation. Jor-El's going to work on another bracelet that should block that. It's going to be largely made of lead. Together they should neutralize his powers. We hope. We're not sure yet. Either way, with this around his wrist he won't be able to change into Doomsday."

"Can you put it around his neck?" Kara asked as Clark secured the crystal bracelet on Lucas' right wrist.

"No," Clark said, blinking at her. "It might not work and then he'd choke to death."

"And this is a problem how?" Kara asked archly.

Lex sighed. He patted Kara's back to try and calm her down a little. Lucas deserved every bit of the anger that Kara felt towards him, but he wasn't the true villain. Doomsday was Lionel's creation and Lucas was his chosen heir. Lionel Luthor had decreed everything that Lucas was. Lex knew better than anyone else that Lucas would have been a totally different person if Lionel hadn't raised him.

"You should be aware that I have finally been able to scan Doomsday, now that you brought him to me," Jor-El said in just the right tone of voice to make it clear he was trying to distract Kara without being too obvious about it. "He is not the only human on earth with these modifications. I have detected fifty-seven other humans with various modifications that mimic his modifications. Not all of them appear to be active but they could be a threat in the future."

"What?"

Lex's horrified squawk was echoed by Kara's furious one and Clark's moaned one. They exchanged looks that were equal parts frustration and determination. It looked like Lionel would be a thorn in Lex's side for a good bit longer. Kara gasped, her hands flying to her mouth as her eyes went wide.

"Does this mean I have to act like a human forever?" Kara cried. "No fair! I wanted to show off!"

"No, it just means you need a super suit too," Clark sighed. "All right, let's figure out some way to track the others and determine where they're being created. Lionel is in prison. Someone has to be doing this for him. We might have more enemies than we thought we did."

"I need to get the League in on this," Lex agreed. "Maybe Bruce and Oliver can buy out LuthorCorp and shut the labs down. Bruce suggested it the last time I talked to him."

They got back to work. Lucas woke up a minute later but the bracelet blocked his powers well enough that he couldn't transform or escape. It took both Lex and Kara to get the lead bracelet that Clark created around Lucas' other wrist but between the two bracelets Lucas' most dangerous powers were blocked. The addition of special Kryptonian manacles kept him from attacking them, though Kara did get a nasty black eye while they put them on him.

"This won't hold me forever," Lucas shouted at them. "I'll adapt and then I'll escape and destroy you all!"

"We'll be ready," Lex said levelly. "Every time you escape we'll be waiting and ready for you, Lucas. It's over. You just don't realize it yet."

Lex changed into a fresh suit and flew Lucas back to civilization. Lucas cursed the entire way, squirming as if he could break through the manacles. Occasionally his eyes glowed but the crystalline bracelet would flare with white light and the glow in his eyes would go out. By the time Lex delivered the 'depowered' Doomsday to the authorities, Lex was heartily glad to be rid of him.

"This isn't over!" Lucas bellowed as he was hauled away. "You haven't seen the end of me, Superman!"

"I don't doubt that," Lex sighed.

He turned to the cops and FBI agents that were watching him. They looked awed and a little terrified, which wasn't what he wanted. Lex let a rueful smile stretch his lips, trying to be more like Clark as he walked over to them.

"I _think_ that the bracelets will keep him from changing," Lex said, "but he seems to adapt so I wouldn't be surprised if they got less effective over time. I do know that lead will block his ability to teleport, so if you build a jail cell that's lined with lead, possibly also painted with lead, that should keep him in. If he does escape I'll be there to fight him, no matter what. I promise."

The police smiled and relaxed a little. The FBI agents didn't relax but they did exchange looks that made Lex think that they wanted to question him for a few weeks to get every detail of what had happened and what he'd learned. Lex didn't give them the chance to do it.

"I do have a lot of repair work to do," Lex said with a respectful nod, "so if you'll excuse me I'll be on my way."

"Thank you, Superman!" one of the cops called as Lex took off.

Lex smiled back at him and waved before speeding back to the Fortress. There was so much to do to make sure that the other people who'd been affected were found and dealt with. Hopefully it would be possible to cure them. Lex hated to think that they would be cursed to be monsters for life. Clark and Kara were discussing how to find and cure the others as he flew into the Fortress. Lex's smile grew.

Come what may, he wasn't in this battle alone anymore.

+++++

Lex smiled at Martha and Kara as he got out of his car. They were weeding the kitchen garden while enjoying the bright summer day. At Lex's raised eyebrow Kara grinned and pointed towards the barn's open window. A laugh bubbled up. Trust Clark to be inside on a beautiful day.

The stairs that had seemed so foreign when he'd first met Clark were as familiar as old friends. During the last year and a half he'd gone up and down these stairs often enough that he knew all the dents and wobbly spots. He'd helped replace several of the steps a month ago when Martha had tripped on one. The door was wide open; allowing what little breeze there was to flow through the loft. It was still very hot inside, even to Lex.

Clark was wearing shorts and a blue T-Shirt with the now famous Superman "S" on it. He was busy pinning articles and pictures to his wall. Occasionally he muttered something as he moved things around on his Wall of Weird. It seemed to have become a Wall of Superman and Supergirl since Doomsday's initial capture. All of his subsequent escapes, rampages and recaptures were there. Articles and pictures fluttered from the floor to the ceiling and then as far up the ceiling as Clark could reach without a stool.

"Pretty soon you're going to need to expand to a new wall," Lex commented after watching Clark for a few seconds.

"Lex!" Clark gasped, turning to stare at him. "I didn't hear you come up."

"What are you doing inside on a day like this?" Lex asked.

He leaned against the doorjamb. Lex smiled at Clark's blush and shy grin. Clark had put on a lot of muscle in the last year, probably due to Kara's constant teasing him about being a weak little geek. It was fond teasing since Clark could actually keep up with her and think faster than her in some areas but Clark did seem to have taken it seriously enough that there was an old weight set in one corner of his loft that looked like it was getting used.

"Working on my Wall, of course," Clark said. He peered out the window and grinned. He continued in a much more quiet tone of voice. "And avoiding Mom and Kara's gossiping. They keep talking about Lana and how cute she is. I think they're trying to get me to ask her on a date."

"What?" Lex squawked a good bit more loudly than he'd intended.

"I know," Clark said as he rolled his eyes. "I don't want to go on a date with _her_."

The way he said 'her' made Lex's heart flutter a little in his chest. He pushed off of the doorjamb and sauntered over to Clark. Another blush spread across Clark's cheeks so Lex studied the articles rather than make him more uncomfortable. Lex started as Clark's fingers brushed over his collar, adjusting the lay of it over his shoulder.

"There's someone else you'd like to take on a date?" Lex asked.

"Well, yeah," Clark said very hesitantly, "but it doesn't seem that they're interested in me. I thought so but well…." He shrugged and looked at his Wall rather than a Lex.

They hadn't taken the next step after Doomsday's capture. Lex knew perfectly well that Clark was interested in him. He would literally do anything for Clark. Despite the mutual nature of their attraction Clark had been underage and Lex was always busy with his business and saving the world. There had never been a perfect moment, even after Clark turned sixteen in the spring. In the last few months it had seemed to Lex that Clark's heart might be moving on. He tried not to be unhappy about it. They had always been intended to be brothers. All they were doing was returning to the way things should have been.

"Maybe something's standing in the way," Lex suggested. His thoughts were full of all the obstacles that stood between them. They only started with the age difference and went on from there in an ever-escalating series of 'don't even think about it' admonishments. "You might have to make the first move, you know."

"Hmmm, not bad advice," Clark said thoughtfully as he cocked his head at Lex. "Maybe you could give me a hand with that?"

"I'll be glad to help you with anything you want, Clark," Lex said and really meant it. Even if it meant helping Clark find and woo someone else, Lex would do it.

"Good," Clark said.

He smiled that world-illuminating smile for a second and then grabbed Lex's lapels. Clark used a little jerk and twist move that pulled Lex off balance and into his chest. Before Lex could do more than gasp Clark's lips were pressed against his own.

Lex gingerly wrapped his hands around Clark's sides. He was shaking. Clark was shaking. The kiss was awkward and uncoordinated and their noses bumped as Clark tried to adjust his angle. It was heaven. Lex groaned.

"Sorry," Clark whispered against Lex's lips after a couple of seconds. He kept a firm grip on Lex's lapels as if to keep him there. "Not very good at this."

"Should be brothers," Lex whispered back. His heart felt like it was trying to beat straight through his chest. He was terrified that he'd hurt Clark. "I could hurt you. Too strong."

"I'll heal," Clark chuckled, "and I'm not your brother. Rather be your boyfriend, Lex. You know, when I'm older."

Lex chuckled and slid his arms around Clark's back. A shuddery moan spilled out of Clark's lips and brushed over Lex's face in a wave of warmth that made the heat of the day seem cold. Their lips pressed together again, Lex guiding it this time. It went better and Clark learned kissing as quickly as he did everything else. By the time they parted lips again Lex was panting and felt like he'd never kissed anyone before in his life.

"This feels a little weird," Lex admitted with what he knew had to be a shy smile that no one would recognize on his face.

"The kisses?" Clark asked with a smug smile that probably had more to do with their erections pressing together than anything else. "Or the not being brothers thing?"

"That," Lex said. "The kisses are wonderful. You're a very fast learner."

"I have a very good teacher," Clark said even more smugly. "I'm glad that it worked out this way. If we'd been brothers than it really would have been weird to be so in love with you."

Lex pulled Clark down for another kiss so that he wouldn't have to say how much hearing the word 'love' coming from Clark meant to him. Clark smiled into the kiss, opening his mouth so that they could kiss more deeply. Prayers of thanksgiving to Rao and God and every other deity that may or may not exist flooded through Lex's mind as Clark showed his love to Lex. This wasn't where he'd thought he'd end up in live when he left Krypton but Lex was desperately happy that this was where his road had led.

"I'm home," Lex whispered after they came up for air.

"Me too," Clark murmured back. "Me too."

The End


End file.
